


Howling For You

by orphan_account



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, Butch/Femme, Detective, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Lesbian, No Nicole Haught, No WayHaught, Supernatural - Freeform, True Crime, Werewolf, Werewolves, butch lesbian, lesbian werewolf, strong female lead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-02-29 08:08:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 41,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18774658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Alex Hale is a detective in Purgatory with a big secret, she's been crushing on Waverly Earp for some time now...and she also happens to be a werewolf. She gets a case unlike any other and suddenly gets sucked into teaming up with Wynonna Earp, Doc Holiday, and of course Waverly Earp. What can go wrong, right?





	1. Nyctophobia

"Shit, not again," Alex looked over her shoulder as she ran like her life depended on it...which it did. Behind Alex, was a group of men on horses, right on her tail. "If this is anything like the other times, I'll lose them pretty quick," she thought. Suddenly, Alex caught a second wind and ran even harder. The hard clopping of hooves grew distant, the townspeople began to angrily shout, cursing her name into the dark gloomy sky. "Woah!" Alex gasped, skidding to a halt. She was looking down the edge of a cliff. Below were large, sharp rocks and even bigger, menacing waves crashing into the side of the cliff.

Alex felt the townspeople creep up on her, she had to get out of there, fast. 

"You're a monster, how could we trust you?"

"I'm not a monster, all I've done is protect this town with my life and you can't grant me one degree of compassion because of who I am?" Alex barked back at the group of angry townspeople.

"Everyone needs to know what you really are, Hale. People have gotten hurt because of you."

"I didn't hurt anyone, I told you I'm going to stop this I'm I-"

The group began to move in closer to Alex, knowing she couldn't back away from them since her back was already to the edge of the cliff. 

"Fuck it." 

Alex fell backwards, first with arms outstretched and then quickly flipping both middle fingers to the townspeople before she disappeared over the edge. It was a long way down, and she didn't bother to see whether she was going to land on the jagged rocks below or the aggressive waves that were crashing into them. "Maybe next time," she whispered to herself. Alex closed her eyes, bracing for impact----

"HI THERE, IT'S 7:00 AM. IT LOOKS LIKE THERE WILL BE SOME HARD SHOWERS IN PURGATORY AROUND THE AFTERNOON INTO THE LATE EVENING. TRAFFIC IS LIGHT AS USUAL THIS MORNING, MAKING YOUR WORK COMMUTE ONLY 10 MINUTES." Alex's eyes flew open, she couldn't help but wince from the non-existent fall she had just taken in her dream. She sat up, yawned, and stretched before throwing off her duvet and lumbering over to the dresser to check her phone. No new messages, just one notification from her health app reminding her to get her morning workout done. She ran a hand through her long jet black hair while the other opened one of the drawers and pulled out some dark mesh shorts, a black sports bra and a grey t-shirt. Her eyes were half closed as her hands mindlessly slipped the shorts over her maroon boxer-briefs. She was a little more coherent by the time she pulled the t-shirt over her body. 

The coffeemaker downstairs beeped, Alex's ears perked up, as did her whole body in a Pavlovian-like fashion and she headed down to the kitchen. Coffee was to Alex as water was to fish. Especially for those morning workouts that she's been doing for only about two weeks now. Usually, she'd workout at night, but for the past two months, she had been making almost nightly visits to Shorty's bar with her co-worker, Xavier Dolls after each shift. They both could drink and unwind, Dolls got to bitch and moan about work, and Alex got to see her crush, Waverly Earp. They've only spoken in passing in the bar, nowhere else outside of that much to Alex's dismay. Alex noticed Waverly the first time Dolls invited her out to Shorty's. She reluctantly accepted, initially thinking that he was asking her on a date. Alex was always wearing men's clothing and constantly swooning over female celebrities with Dolls on their lunch breaks. He had to have known at that point that she was a lesbian. As it turned out, Dolls wasn't trying to put the moves on Alex. As it turns out, he was going to Shorty's for more than just to drink. Alex figured out fairly quickly that Dolls was going to see Wynonna Earp, Waverly's older sister and a local celebrity here in Purgatory for lack of a better term. Wynonna was either loved or hated, mostly hated, by all of Purgatory. Dolls was aware of her lengthy rap sheet, but chalked it up to a reckless adolescent phase especially because they were all non-violent, petty crimes. Every conversation between Waverly and Alex was short-lived. Mostly because Waverly's older sister always butted in and asked Waverly to help her with something trivial (but obviously necessary) like restocking the bar or running drinks to another table. 

Alex poured her coffee into a mug and leaned against the kitchen island, supporting herself with one arm while she sipped her coffee, thinking about her workout routine and Waverly Earp...and what she'll wear to work...and Waverly Earp.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a four legged figure approaching the sliding door from her backyard. Yellow glowing eyes peering into the home before meeting Alex's deep amber eyes. The coffee was just kicking in, clearing enough fog in her head where she could register the familiar face. "Hero!" she called to the creature. Alex trotted over to the sliding door and stepped outside to greet the wolf. She knelt down and grabbed a handful of scruff behind the wolf's neck, touching her forehead with Hero's to greet him. Alex met Hero one day while she was in the woods on the outskirts of Purgatory. He wasn't too well receiving of her presence, since he assumed that she was there to steal any game that happened to come through. He had only bared his teeth and growled for a few seconds before Alex's eyes began to glow a piercing blue and she herself let out a deep growl. It wasn't a threat, she was only insisting that she wasn't interfering with his hunt. Hero immediately bowed his head, he was a lone wolf and so was Alex, but he could tell that she was sincere and perfectly capable of winning against him in a fight. He followed her around the woods, and she eventually let him follow her home, feeding him some butchered venison and assorted table scraps that night. Since then, they've kind of formed a pack of their own.

Alex stands up and sets her mug on the outdoor bar before walking over to her rig. She drops down into push-up position and gets about 50 repetitions in before proceeding with the rest of her routine consisting of muscle-ups, dips, squats, and some abs. By the time she finished, Hero was waiting by his bowl for some breakfast. "If you're going to beg for food, at least spot me once in a while, yeah?" she teased, Hero sighed rather loudly and plopped down by the bowl. Alex headed into the kitchen and grabbed a slab of meat for her four-legged friend and tossed it towards the bowl-but Hero was quick to intercept the meat and scarf it down within a few seconds. Alex laughed and continued to wash her hands. She grabbed a protein drink from her fridge and ran upstairs to get ready for work. "Hey Google, play my Morning Playlist!" She shouted, there was only a few seconds of silence before an upbeat Bruno Mars song was blasting from almost every corner of her house. Alex was Purgatory's leading (and only) detective, so she didn't have to don a beat cop uniform like her coworkers did. Although, she did wear one from time to time on patrol days just to make her presence known to the townspeople. But today, she was opting for a light blue button up shirt and the dressiest slacks she could find. She pulled out a pair of boxer briefs and a clean sports bra before padding over to the shower. She stood under the shower head for a few moments and closed her eyes, feeling the warm water fall over her. By this time, Beyonce had taken over the speakers in Alex's home and she was bobbing her head to the music as she was massaging her scalp with product. She quickly finished her shower and was drying off to the Chainsmokers for maybe a minute before she yelled at the Google Assistant to change the song, prompting Rihanna to blare through the house. Alex threw on her work clothes and heard her phone ring, it was Dolls.

"Yo."

"Hey, I'll be at your place in about five minutes, cool?"

"For sure, I'll be outside by then."

"Alright, see you then."

"Frick," she muttered while hastily descending the stairs to the kitchen yet again. She grabbed her lunch for the day, nothing fancy, just chicken, rice, and veggies. She's been trying to keep her meals as lean as possible to make room for the alcohol she inevitably drinks almost nightly at Shorty's. She keyed in her security code to lock the house down for the day before she trotted down to her driveway where Dolls had just pulled up in his police cruiser. 

"Get in loser, we're going on patrol!" he yelled.

Alex chuckled and slid into the passenger side of Dolls' car.

"Do you mind if we stop for coffee?" Dolls asked, "I'm craving a cronut and a PSL."

"Hold on, I'll have an answer for you once I process whatever the hell just came out of your mouth," Alex was trying to stifle her laughter, "you're so basic it hurts, Dolls."

"Laugh all you want but the PSL is the supreme latte of the land."

"Just go Dolls, or Nedley will bite our heads off for being late because of a stupid seasonal latte craving."

Dolls laughed while he threw the car in reverse, backing out of the long driveway and peeling out towards his favorite coffee shop. 

"Soo..." Dolls began, "Shorty's tonight?"

"I don't know, we've been going a lot just so you can see your girlfriend who's not your girlfriend," Alex teased.

"Hey! I know for a fact I'm not the only one in this car that has the hots for an Earp," Dolls spit back. Alex's cheeks were suddenly beet red, did he really pick up on that? If Dolls can see it, could anyone else have figured out that she has a huge crush on Waverly?

"Whatever, DO NOT say ANYTHING to Nedley, he will crucify me. It's almost as bad as telling him that I'm into his daughter."

"Are you into Chrissy too!?" exclaimed Dolls.

"God-NO!" Alex shot back. Chrissy Nedley, and Waverly Earp were best friends, they grew up together and Sheriff Randy Nedley had taken in both Waverly and Wynonna as his own daughters since their dad died, making them borderline off limits to most people. Well, except for Champ Hardy, Waverly's long time boyfriend. He's a rodeo star that works-full time on his family's ranch. Sheriff Nedley is probably Champ's biggest fan. When he caught wind that Waverly and Champ were dating, he was over the moon. Every time the Nedleys have gone on vacation, Champ was always enthusiastically encouraged to tag along with Waverly. Every time Dolls and Alex went to Shorty's, Champ would sometimes make an appearance to be obnoxious by smacking Waverly's ass or shoving his tongue down her throat in front of the two officers.

"Whatever you say, Lex," Dolls said as he pulled into a space in front of the coffee shop. "You want anything?" He asked. "I'm good, if I have anymore coffee I think I'll explode," Alex lied, she also wanted a Pumpkin Spice Latte but she was too stubborn to admit it after giving Dolls a hard time for wanting the same. Dolls shrugged and hopped out of the car, strolling inside the coffee shop to get his PSL and cronut fix.  
\---------------------------------------

"Morning sir," said the two officers in unison. Sheriff Nedley looked up from the file he was holding. "Good morning, you two," he responded.

"Would you like a cronut...uh, sir?" Dolls gingerly held out the pastry for the Sheriff. Nedley gave the officer a puzzled look, before shrugging and taking the cronut from his hand.

"Detective, I have a case for you, head over to these coordinates and speak with the lead CSI agent." 

"Yes sir. Dolls, you drive," The two walked out of the Sheriff's office and back to Dolls' patrol car. It was about a 15 minute drive to the crime scene, there was police tape strewn about the perimeter and there was one other patrol car and a coroner's vehicle. "You must be Detective Hale, I'm Jeremy Chetri, head CSI Agent" the man said in an overly friendly tone while extending his hand to Alex. Alex reached out and gave a firm shake of the man's hand, "nice to meet you given the circumstances, this is my partner Deputy Dolls," she replied. Jeremy cocked an eyebrow at Dolls and gave him a quick once over before turning quickly to lead the two officers to the body. "It's uh, pretty bad...and I've been doing this for years," Jeremy warned but the detective was unfazed, Dolls tried to remain stoic but he let out a nervous chuckle that prompted Hale to shoot him a look. The detective was soon standing over a body. 

"So far we've only been able to determine John Doe's time of death, but no luck in figuring out what exactly killed him at this time, we might know more after the autopsy." 

"I'm guessing it's a tie between blood loss or burning alive?" Dolls quipped. Alex shook her head, but Dolls might have a point. The John Doe was charred beyond recognition and he didn't didn't have any of his fingers on either hands. 

"I assume he doesn't have any teeth either?" Alex asked.

"You would be right," Jeremy sighed. 

"Any luck canvassing the area for witnesses?" 

"Are you being serious? I mean maybe if the birds and bears could talk-ah, no, no luck with the canvas." Jeremy trailed off. The detective crouched down to get closer to the body, sniffing it before quickly returning to her feet. "Wait here," she ordered the men. Jeremy gave Dolls a puzzled look to which all the officer said was, "this is common practice for Lex, just don't question it." By the time Jeremy turned to see what exactly the detective was doing, she was already deep into the woods, following the scent she picked up from the body. She snaked around the tall trees, the scent was still lingering, leading her deeper and deeper into the woods until she came to a small shack. It looked abandoned with the exception of a few kerosene canisters laying around the walkway to the shack. Hale cautiously stepped toward the front door, her hand firmly on her holster. She pressed a hand on the door and it swung open. "Nobody's home," she whispered. A quick scan of the first room showed little signs that anyone had lived there for a while, but John Doe's scent was still present. 

Across one wall was a large symbol scrawled in what Detective Hale deduced to be blood. She looked down and noticed scorch marks on the decaying wood floor. "Hey, Dolls" she called into her radio, "I ended up a at an abandoned shack some yards northwest from the scene-we're either dealing with the next Zodiac Killer or some kind of cult." 

"We're on our way" Dolls replied. It was only a few minutes before the two men showed up to the shack. 

"Let's take the canisters and see if any fingerprints can be pulled for the system" 

"On it," Jeremy inspected the canisters and began to dust them for fingerprints. 

"So anymore weird hunches or smells that tell you there's more to what we've found so far?" Dolls asked as he looked around the shack. 

"No, not right now at least, let's get back to the station and get a head start on that paperwor-"

A loud crash echoes throughout the shack and glass shatters everywhere. Alex's ears were ringing from the impact and quickly realized that the entire shack was being rapidly engulfed in flames. Dolls was on all fours, choking from the smoke inhalation and Jeremy was crawling towards the front door. Hale grabbed the officer by the collar of his uniform and ran for the front door, picking up Jeremy by his jacket and kicking open the door. She kept going with the two men in tow until they were back at the initial crime scene. She laid the officer and CSI agent down gently on the forest floor before reaching for her radio.

"Dispatch, this is Detective Hale, I need a bus for one officer and one CSI agent-both suffering from smoke inhalation."

"We have a unit en route ETA is 10 minutes"

"They don't have 10 minutes, send a patrol unit to finish cleaning up the scene-I'm transporting the officer and agent myself."

Hale grabs Jeremy and Dolls and continues running through the woods, her arms began to grow twice their original size and her legs follow suit, charcoal fur swallowing her limbs and face. Her eyes turn blue and her speed picks up. Only two minutes had passed by the time she reached Purgatory's hospital. She was back in her original form with the exception of a few tears in her uniform from turning. She rushed through the automatic double doors.

"I need two stretchers stat!" a group of nurses and doctors were quick to jump into action, wheeling the officer and Jeremy away quickly with Hale close behind.

"You need to stay back, we got it from here" a doctor commanded.

"You'll have to drag me out of here then, I'm not leaving either of these men." The doctor sighed but left Hale to stand between the agents without further conflict. Alex watched as the doctors and nurses scrambled to stabilize Dolls and Jeremy. Both were wearing oxygen masks at this point, and each man had sustained some burns from the attack. 

"Let's get you checked out too," a nurse approached Alex and lightly grabbed her arm.

"I'm fine, I'll find you after these two are out of the dark," she pulled her arm away and turned her attention back to the two men. 

"Hale, get checked out-that's an order" Barked a familiar voice from the entryway. It was Nedley, eyes soft but sternly looking at Alex. She reluctantly followed the nurse to a room next door.

"Hey! Sheriff! We gotta talk," Nedley turned around to find an out of breath Wynonna Earp accompanied by Doc Holiday and her younger sister, Waverly. 

"Later, I need to make sure my guys are okay. I'll have Detective Hale get in touch with y'all as soon as she gets cleared by the doctor."

Wynonna nodded and gently grabbed the Sheriff to pull him aside.

"Does she know anything that you know?" she whispered.

"No, but it's about time we bring her in on this, she's my best officer and she'll be a great asset to you."

"How well do you know this cop? Can we actually trust her?"

"I trust her with this town and I have to say that I'd trust her with my life. She's the best I got, and the best you'll get. Feel free to vet her if you don't believe me."

"I just might" Wynonna said with a smirk. "So how's your boys doing?"

"They're gonna make it, Hale managed to get both of them out of the shack and-I don't know how-but she got them here faster than any ambulance could have."

"Wow-uh-interesting. Have her stop by Shorty's when she's good to go? I hope the boys get well soon."

"Thanks, I'll let her know."

The trio left as quickly as they came. Shortly after, Alex appeared from the room next door.

"Hale, you remember Wynonna Earp?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, she asked that you head over to Shorty's when you're feeling better."

"Yes sir, I'd like to stay with Dolls and Mr. Chetri here for a bit though, sir."

"Make it quick, she might have useful information for you about this case."

"Of course sir."

Nedley left to the waiting room while Alex walked into the quiet room. There was a nurse tracking the two's vitals, a stark contrast to the chaos that had taken place only minutes ago. Alex eyed both men in their respective beds and noticed Dolls was beginning to wake up. She quickly moved to his bedside and lightly laid her hand on his left forearm. 

"Welcome back."

"Wha-what the hell happened, Hale?"

"Somebody tried burning us out of that shack. You and Jeremy got the worst of the explosion."

"How did we get here?" he rasped.

Alex took a breath, "I drove like a bat outta hell but I got you both here in one piece" she chuckled. "So uh, Wynonna was here for a hot second."

Dolls cocked an eyebrow, "really? why?"

"I guess when she heard you got injured she couldn't bear to keep her true feelings from you anymore and just ran over here to tell you-that I'm totally bullshitting you."

"You ass I felt myself going into cardiac arrest" Dolls managed to raise a burnt arm and deliver a mild punch to Hales stomach

"Ow! Anyway, she didn't say why she was here, she did ask that I head over to Shorty's soon to talk with her."

"About what?"

"Dunno, might help us figure out why someone wanted us and the shack to burn."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go crack this case open and maybe..you know...mention me at some point to Wynonna."

"I liked you better when you were unconscious, Dolls."

"Hey I bet Waverly will be there too! Put those moves on her, Hale."

"She's with that ding-dong Champ, remember? Or did you hit your head when we got attacked?"

"You're a total upgrade from that douche, wouldn't hurt to try."

"I'm leaving now bye!! Don't get well soon!!" Hale walked out of the hospital and realized that she didn't have a car to drive to shorty's with. She decided to sprint into the woods and take a "shortcut" to her place first and then the bar.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hale pulled up to Shorty's in her civilian car. She was also dressed in a jeans and a t-shirt since her work clothes were torn, burnt, and reeked of smoke. 

"Hey, Nancy Grace! Glad you could make it!" Shouted Wynonna as the Detective walked through the saloon-esque double doors. 

"Yeah, Nedley said you wanted to talk to me."

"Relax cowgirl, lemme guess you like a stiff drink right?" Wynonna winked as she nudged the detectives arm with her elbow.

"Try cider, hard alc isn't my thing."

"What? You're this big bad detective and you don't even like a good scotch or whiskey?"

"I'm not a fan, if you don't have cider I'll settle for whatever beer you got."

"We definitely have cider so sit tight. Waverly!" she gestured to the brunette across the room, "take her to the private table."

"Sure, no problem" Hale watched as Waverly approached her , it seemed like everything was in slow motion for a few seconds as the brunette made her way over.

"Right this way, Officer-"

"Hale, but Alex is fine too."

"Heh, sounds good-uh-right this way!" the brunette blushed, she couldn't understand why she was so flustered around the detective. The two come to a table that was tucked away from the rest of the bargoers. Alex slides in one side of the booth while Waverly remained standing, nervously biting her lip while twiddling her thumbs.

"Haha-your hovering makes me a bit nervous, Waverly. Care to sit?"

Waverly looked a bit taken aback, she didn't think the officer would remember her name based on the limited interactions they've had in the past. She sucked in a quick breath before looking up at Alex with a shy smile.

"Yeah-I just uh-Wynonna-and uh, oh you're staring..."

"You're nervous about something. Am I going to get jumped or?"

"NO! Nothing like that, we're just talking! And now I'm sitting!" Waverly let out a nervous laugh as she tried her best to ease into the booth, but she was bumped a bit hard by an overly-excited Champ.

"Hey babe! How's my favorite bartender?" Champ was showering Waverly with slobbery kisses and she was visibly embarrassed, maybe annoyed?

"Hey there, my names Champ, Champ Hardy! You're a cop right?"

"Detective."

"Right, like Batman!"

"Close enough." 

"Champ, we're having a private conversation...why don't you go play some rounds of pool with Jacob?"

"Why can't I stay? I'm basically your husband at this point. Are you just trying to get me to play pool so you can look at my butt while I shoot?"

"You'll have to go play to find out. And that's not how that works, you'd have to propose first ya know?"

"Fine, grab me a beer will ya babe? Bye Batman!" Champ said as he hopped out of the booth.

"I'm sorry, he's just-"

"It's okay, he's quite...charming?"

Waverly's face was beet red. The first time she got to have a real conversation with the Detective and of course, Champ had to interrupt and make it known that Waverly was his.

"Detective, this is Doc." Wynonna said pulling the mustached man into the booth. They scooted all they way in, leaving Waverly no choice but to sit closer to the detective. She swallowed hard, hiding her blushing cheeks as best as she could. Wow, the detective smelled really good, was she wearing men's deodorant?

"So, why are we here?" Asked Alex.

"It's a little too early in the day to have an existential crisis don't you think, Lex?" Wynonna cracked a sly smile.

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah, yeah...look" Wynonna lowered her voice "we know who tried to roast you guys back there."

"Who?"

"Well not exactly who, but we have a pretty good idea"

"Okay so spit it out already"

"Geez okay hold on. We need to make sure we can trust you and all"

"Trust me? I'm a cop? The whole town has to trust me?"

"Doesn't automatically mean we do"

"Fine, fine...what do you want to know?"

"Well for starters...how come you don't look like you were almost burned alive by the attack?"

"I showered before I came here if that's what you're asking."

"No, I mean you don't have any burn marks, no scratches, nothing. It's like you weren't anywhere near the shack when it caught fire."

"I was in it that's for sure. I was farther from the point of explosion than Jeremy and Dolls. That's why they were about unconscious and I had to be the one to get them to the hospital"

"Uh huh and how did you do that? I only saw Nedleys car outside the hospital so where was your set of wheels?"

"Detectives drive unmarked cars, mine probably got moved by a rookie once Nedley pulled up."

"I didn't see any baby cops when I went in the hospital. Why are you lying?"

"I drove it like I stole it from the crime scene to the hospital. You're more than welcome to try and get a hold of the traffic cams that will undoubtedly back up what I'm telling you." Alex remained stone-faced, knowing that the older Earp wouldn't try to actually call her on her bluff.

"Okay! Fine! I trashed some of those cameras back in my heyday so there wouldn't be much footage to get."

The detective raised an eyebrow at Wynonna.

"Look, we just need something to go off of to know that we can for sure trust you. I mean Nedley was talking a big game about you so there's that but I need to see what you're about. We're doing dangerous work here and we need someone who isn't going to run when things get spooky or turn on us mid fire fight."

"Fire fight?"

"Yes, guns a blazing and all that." Wynonna flailed finger guns in front of the detective's face, Hale let out a deep sigh.

"Look, I'm not going to go complete Chicken Soup for the Soul with you. I also need to know that I can trust you guys, like with my life." Alex met eyes with everyone at the table, Waverly squirmed at the sincere eye contact from such a close range.

"Nedley is the closest person to a father figure that I've ever had," Alex looked down, "I know he loves you and Waverly a lot, treats you like his own. I wouldn't do anything to hurt Nedley which means I wouldn't do anything to hurt you or Waverly. Plus, I don't scare that easy" she said leaning back, crossing her arms for emphasis.

"What a touching speech, truly I am touched," Wynonna teased. "Alright, this place isn't completely private so meet us at our place after bar close."

"Which is when?"

"Midnight, why? You got a bed time?"

"Christ, no...fine I'll be there. I'll just have to go check on Dolls and Jeremy now."

"Great! How are they?"

"Dolls was awake when I left him. He was definitely glad to be alive. Jeremy is still resting, he might be awake now."

"All thanks to you, Alex-er um, officer...detective Alex Hale" Waverly immediately looked down, mentally kicking herself hard for slipping so goddamn much around this woman she barely met.

"Yeah you're a real hero there, tough girl,"

"Right...I'm gonna go now. Here's my card, cell number is on the back. I'll just give this to the most responsible person at this table other than me" she slides the card over to Waverly who covered her mouth to hide her excitement as Wynonna audibly gagged and rolled her eyes at the Detective.

"Stiff and flirty, what a weird combo," Wynonna looked over at her sister who was too busy gawking at the detective's phone number on the card to hear what she just said. 

"So? What do we think of her?"

"Huh?" Waverly finally looked up at her sister, slightly flustered from looking too long at the card in her hand.

"The lady cop? Do you think she's a good guy-er girl?"

"Yeah, yeah I'd venture to say that she is," Waverly was confident in her statement, she usually was right when it came to judging one's character. Wynonna looked over at Doc...

"Alright babygirl, I'll take your word for it," Wynonna took a sip of the beer in front of her and hopped out of the booth. "By the way, tell your man to start playing pool for some cash so he can pay his damn tab already."

Waverly sighed and looked over at Champ playing pool with his buddies. It was getting harder for her to see why staying with him was doing any good for her. Waverly has a huge responsibility now, fighting revenants and doing mountains of research when Wynonna needed her to. Champ doesn't know about any of it, he wouldn't care to know about any of it, actually. He only cares about what he's doing , he only cares about himself. Waverly did love him, but not as much as Champ loves himself. The beginning of their four year relationship was pure bliss, but now, Waverly had been reduced to merely arm and eye candy for the rodeo star. If he needed something, she was there; food, booze, sex, a cheerleader. Waverly became anything he needed her to be in that exact moment. It was wearing on her, perhaps leaving Champ would be good for her. But, Purgatory is a small place, which means as far as other fish in the sea, this was more like a small pond and what if Waverly doesn't find anyone? Will she have to marry Champ? Is that really what she wants? What does she want?

Waverly took a deep breath to try and slow her racing thoughts. She pulled out her phone and started tapping away a message to Detective Alex Hale.


	2. Blood Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ THE UPDATED FIRST CHAPTER! - Alex takes care of some unfinished business before heading over to the Earp Homestead to figure out what is going on with this new case. As it turns out, her meeting at the Homestead doesn't exactly go as anticipated.

_Hey Detective Hale! It's Waverly Earp. Wynonna forgot to give you our address so I'm just sending it your way! I guess this makes me the point of contact for now (:_

Alex looked down at her phone and tried to hide her smile from Dolls. She waited a few seconds before responding.

_Looks like it does, I'm okay with it if you are. Thanks for the info, I'll see you and Wynonna tonight._

"Is that Nedley?" Dolls piped up from his bed.

"Nope," Hale kept her eyes on her phone, knowing if she even looked at dolls for a second that he'll figure out that it's-

Dolls raised one eyebrow? "Is it who I think it is?"

_Well shit._

"Your mom? Oh yeah, she said to have the nurse put talcum powder on your booty after your next sponge bath."

"HALE SHUT UP-WHO IS IT?"

"Why are you so pressed to know?"

"Because you just went to meet with Wynonna and Waverly then suddenly you come back and someone is texting you? Did you get Waverly's number?"

"Not exactly-I sort of gave her mine."

"WOW, ATTA GIRL LEX!"

"Nice one Detective," Jeremy hollered from his hospital bed.

"It's not for pleasure, guys. I have to meet the Earp sisters at their homestead, they're helping me out with that case."

"Oh, did they give you any good info?" Dolls tried sitting up.

"Not yet, they just wanted to figure out who I am and what I'm about"

"That's easy, you're the great Detective Lex and you're all about Waverly Earp!" Dolls was so loud, the nurses at the station outside the door looked in with puzzled faces. 

"Oh-my god do you want this whole hospital to know that 1) I'm a lesbian and 2) I have a big lesbian crush on Waverly Earp?"

"The truth will set you free, Lex."

"When has a small town ever been good to the gays?"

"They're pretty nice to the Queer Eye guys" Jeremy chimed in, feebly raising a finger to make a point.

"Shut up, I'll fill both of you in on what the Earps tell me after tonight. Hey, Dolls?"

"Yeah?"

"Try to hold in those deadly farts of yours when the nurse is giving you the sponge bath."

"BYE LEX I WON'T MISS YOU."

"Bye Jeremy, I will ONLY miss you." Alex teased. There was still a few hours before Hale had to meet with the Earps at the Homestead. She decided to go back to the scene to try and find anything that might have been survived the explosion.

Alex parked her car in the same place she did this morning, she noticed a pair of eyes watching her as she stepped out of the car. 

"Hero!" she called into the woods, the wolf only showed his head to let her know that it was in fact him. 

"Feel free to tag along, I have some work to do," Alex began walking in the general direction towards the shack. Hero watched her for a few seconds before ultimately deciding to follow her. The two came upon the shack shortly after, well what remained of it. Alex put on a pair of latex gloves and began to scan the area for anything that hadn't disintegrated. Hero walked the perimeter of the site of the rubble, serving as a lookout for the detective while she worked. Some time had passed when her phone rang.

"Detective Hale? My name is Jennifer Gore, I work with Jeremy at the CSI lab. I got a chance to process the fingerprints that were lifted from the scene, do you have a minute?"

"Of course," Alex was still looking through the rubble as the CSI tech spoke.

"Great, well not so great, only one of those prints came back."

"Hmm?"

"And well, the print belongs to the victim from a cold case from the 90's, her name was Sharon Baker. She was kidnapped while trying to walk home from school. Sharon was about 8 at the time, Purgatory police stopped looking for her after they ran out of leads and resources to continue the search. Ultimately, the town was told that it was a homicide but the body was never recovered."

"Looks like she might not dead after all, thank you for the update. Did you pick up the prints from the scene?"

"Yes, we're spread a little thin even in Purgatory so I had to lock up the lab and run over before anyone tried cleaning up. Luckily, Jeremy had lifted all the prints and stashed them in the van before the shack blew up."

"Good save, let's hope this new info takes us somewhere with this case."

"I have faith that you'll figure it out. Thanks for pulling my boss out of that mess, I don't know how the lab would have gone on without him. Let me know if you need anything."

"Will do, thank you." Alex ended the call and noticed something gleaming in the moonlight just a few feet in front of her. She crouched down and picked up the item, it was a brooch that resembled an owl. The accessory was a deep maroon, with eyes that were made out of small cuts of emerald. Hale was too busy inspecting the item to notice that Hero was growling at something. He finally began to snarl and that's when she stood up, they both locked in on a slender and pale woman standing at the edge of the site. Alex reached for the gun on her holster, "Purgatory Police, hold it right there." The woman remained still for a second before taking a step into the moonlight. Their eyes were dark and their face was gaunt, "stop right there or I will shoot," Alex commanded. She eyed the woman, she looked rather young. Hale noticed the dark eyes were locked onto her hand that was still holding the brooch. "Is this what you want?" Alex held out the owl, the woman didn't speak, she just kept her eyes on the detective's hand. "Let's talk, if you tell me what I want to know then you can have this," she could see the person's breathing pick up, like they were contemplating whether or not to say something. "Who blew up the shack?" They both stood in silence, "okay, do you know the man that was found not too far from here?" Still no answer, not even a reaction. "What do you need this for?" Alex held out the brooch, the woman took another step towards the detective. "Back up, I'm giving you one last chance, where did you come from?" Alex raised her gun, but didn't take aim just yet. The woman began to back away, slowly being swallowed by the shadows of the woods and using it as a cover to run away from the detective. 

"Fuck me," the detective was debating whether or not to go after the woman but realized she only had about an hour before her meeting at the Homestead. "I have to go, Hero." The wolf followed the detective halfway to where her car was parked before taking off into the woods once again. Alex sat in her car for a short while, trying to process everything that had just happened. She pulled the brooch out of her pocket and looked at it once more, her other hand reached for her phone and began to dial Sheriff Nedley's number.

"Yes Hale?"

"Sir, do you remember a cold case from the 90's that involved the kidnapping of an eight year old?"

"Yes, I didn't work that case though. Why do you ask?"

"Who did?"

"I couldn't tell you off the top of my head, I'm finishing up paperwork at the office so I'll rummage through the files and let you know once I find out."

"Thank you sir, I'm headed over to the Earp Homestead now."

"I know, it sounded like you made a good first impression based on what Waverly and Wynonna told me."

"Good to know," Alex smiled, "they're not so bad themselves."

"They're good kids like you, Hale. Anyway, I need to finish up here, we'll talk soon."

"Yes sir," Alex ended the call and pulled out onto the road towards the Homestead.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Hale had pulled up to the Earp Homestead and spotted Doc walking up to the front gate.

"Hey Doc," she called.

"Evenin' Officer" Doc tipped his hat. "Don't s'pose you had any trouble findin' this place now did ya?"

"No-" Hale chuckled, "even if Waverly didn't send me the address. I definitely would have remembered how to get here on my own. Nedley dedicated a module of the officer training course specifically on how to deal with calls involving the Earps."

Doc joined in on her laughter "he is a smart man."

"Yeah," she nervously cleared her throat,"don't tell Wynonna or Waverly I said that."

"Your secret is safe with me," Doc tipped his hat once more and led the Detective up the porch steps to the front door.

"It seems as though Waverly and Wynonna have yet to return from the bar."

"Hmm, that's fine. What's the likelihood that they ate dinner?"

"Bold of you to assume that Wynonna runs on food when she's working. Booze is her only supper when she works at Shorty's, it makes her more likable to the patrons."

"Alright, so ordering Chinese was a good move on my part" Alex began to run back to the car and brought back a huge bag of food. Doc gazed at the bag with wide eyes before flashing a toothy grin.

"My-my, you're quite the house guest."

"Well, I haven't eaten all day after running around trying to crack the case and making sure Dolls and Jeremy were okay. I'm just glad I worked out this morning at least."

"You sound like quite the masochist, Ms. Hale."

"It's Detective, Doc."

"Apologies, I ask for your patience while I retrieve the extra key Wynonna left lying around here somewhere," Doc rummaged around the front porch and found the key under a pile of beer cans, naturally.

Doc let the two in and led Alex to the kitchen. She set the food down just as the door was opening.

"Lucys we're hoooome" called Wynonna from the front door.

"Oh hi-um, be right back!" Waverly ran past everyone and up the stairs without looking back.

"Sorry we're late. Some bum spilled a WHOLE PITCHER of beer on her. He said he was trying to start an impromptu wet t-shirt contest. Champ cheered on the shenanigans like the loving, protective boyfriend he is-so I laid the guy out and some chaos ensued," Wynonna looked down at her bruised hands and shook them, wincing slightly, "Pretty quiet night honestly-OH CHINESE!" Wynonna ran to the food on the table and started laying out the takeout boxes.

"You sure know how to make a good first impression, Hale."

"We met literally hours before this, Dolls and I have also been to Shorty's countless times," the detective rolled her eyes but Wynonna's head was buried into a takeout box.

"Oh yeah, well this is a good, 71st impression then." she said with a mouthful of lo-mein. Waverly appeared in the kitchen after having a shower and a change of clothes. Alex's keen sense of smell was being pleasantly bombarded by the smell of Waverly's conditioner.

"Who brought Chinese?" asked Waverly

"Alex did!" Wynonna shouted, her mouth still full. 

"Oh wow, thanks!" she while reaching for the steamed veggies.

"Yeah no problem-there's uh, some vegan options in there in case you didn't want just veggies."

"You-you know that I'm vegan?"

"Nedley always asked me for help on where to go when he was trying to figure out where to take you and Wynonna out for dinner."

"You got good taste, I love Raylene's Kitchen!"

"Hahah-that's like my favorite spot," They shared a look for a few seconds before Waverly turned away, blushing.

"So are we talking here or?" Alex asked.

"Yes-yes! Sorry not sorry, I like food and today was exceptionally shitty," Wynonna motioned for everyone to sit in the living room.

"That's an understatement," added Waverly.

"I agree," added Alex. Everyone looked at the detective, realizing that a bar fight over a spilled pitcher of beer was minuscule compared to having to drag two people out of a burning building and avoid death altogether. Both Earp sisters met eyes before looking down, hoping they didn't strike a nerve with Alex. Wynonna finally took a deep breath before continuing, "okay, so here's the deal, we trust you to a degree. I guess it's a good time to tell you that things in Purgatory aren't exactly what they seem."

"Hmm?"

"And well, that shack you were in...belonged to a cult."

"I figured that much."

"You did? Dang, you're good."

"Do you know the name of the cult? Or what they worship?"

"Well that's the weird part, they're lead by a revenant and they worship a demon that he's trying to marry."

"A revenant?"

"Yeah it's basically a demon, only they remain in their own bodies and not in a vessel." Waverly chimed in, "our family has this curse where basically we have to kill them over and over again with this big gun and it just gets passed down each generation like a terrible, terrible gift."

"Well done, babygirl. Waverly is the acting brains of this operation."

"Sometimes I get to be the brawn too."

"That's a killer combo," said Hale. She caught a glimpse of Waverly's smile before she buried her head in the takeout box on her lap. "So these revenants, how many are there?"

"A lot, honestly. But they're stuck in the Ghost River Triangle."

"Ghost River-"

"It's like a prison for the supernatural. Nobody can leave the triangle, well for the most part but, we'll save that stuff for the second date Hale-y" Wynonna winked at the detective who was visibly un-amused.

"Yeah no, it's just Hale."

"Fine, Hale...what about Lexy?"

"Nope."

"Alright relax Benson, you're so stiff right now, I think if I pushed you over you'd shatter."

"I'm not stiff, or a stiff. I got your names down pat so do me the same yeah?"

"Hahah there's maybe like one person in this room who would do you, Lex." Wynonna trailed off, realizing what she was saying only after the words slipped out of her mouth. 

Waverly started to choke on her food. The pain of trying to dislodge the food from her throat was for now, stronger than her urge to hit Wynonna upside the head.

"Hey! Zip it bookworm." Wynonna barked at her sister, but did not look over to see why Waverly was suddenly making that noise.

"Wynonna no, I think she's choking!" Alex scrambled over to Waverly and started the Heimlich maneuver. Waverly coughed out the vegetable onto the coffee table and gasped for air, holding on to Alex's arms to support herself. Alex was careful to keep one strong arm under the brunette while the other helped lower Waverly onto the couch. Hale then grabbed the piece of food with a napkin, throwing it into the trash.

"You okay?" Alex was staring intensely at Waverly. The brunette could only hold eye contact with Hale's deep amber eyes for a second before looking away, failing to hide her embarrassment from the detective. 

"Yeah-I'm good, thank you," Waverly was still trying to catch her breath from choking and now from the anxiety that was creeping up on her, "I just-I should go, I guess I'm being a little distracting."

"Hey," Alex crouched down in front of the brunette and laid a reassuring hand on Waverly's knee, "my first week in Purgatory I passed out at the blood drive so bad I cracked my head open. We've all had our moments."

"I do recall getting so intoxicated once that I once romanced someone's grandmother in the saloon," Doc added.

"And I am a walking embarrassment! Can we get back to the debriefing now?" Wynonna threw up her hands as if to deflect the sentimental tone that was beginning to fill the room.

"Wait Alex, that was you? Oh man it took like two of our biggest guys to get you in that cot," Waverly laughed and looked up with a smirk on her face, somewhat forgetting that she completely embarrassed herself in front of Alex just moments ago thanks to the moment of solidarity from everyone in the room.

"Yeah, I weigh a lot more than I look. And I may or may not had changed my mind about donating blood."

"It's gotta be from that muscle you're packing, Detective Beefcake." winked Wynonna, "wait back up, you mean that was before you even gave blood? How have you managed being a cop for this long?"

"It's not the blood, it's the uh...needles."

"Wait you have tattoos on your arm what's the difference?"

"IT'S NOT GOING IN MORE THAN SIXTEENTH OF AN INCH INTO MY SKIN BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT WE'RE HERE TO TALK ABOUT NOW IS IT WYNONNA?"

The whole room erupts into laughter, Alex's cheeks are slightly red but she's laughing as well, trying to play it cool but more importantly, trying to put Waverly at ease after coughing up a vegetable minutes ago.

"Okay, back to business," Wynonna began to pace back and forth in the living room. "So that cult is lead by a Revenant named Charles Brady. He's using his followers as vessels to receive this demon so they can get hitched. The interesting part is that the follower has to be deemed fit by the demon. If they're not, then they get rid of themselves."

"Get rid of themselves?"

"Yeah, themselves," Wynonna said without a kind of tone that made the Detective feel stupid about not figuring that out sooner. 

"You mean the man in the woods burned and mutilated himself beyond recognition all while effectively wiping out most of the evidence we could have used?"

"Pretty much, we're thinking that they aren't exactly alone the whole time though. The wiping out the evidence part sounds pretty far-fetched."

Alex cocked one eyebrow, "you wouldn't say this was all pretty far-fetched?"

Wynonna looked at Alex with a deadpan expression "No, no this all makes sense why?"

Alex and Wynonna stared at each other for an uncomfortable minute, Wynnona finally breaking eye contact.

"AH-I blinked, you win this time officer muscles."

Hale gave a halfhearted laugh. "Continue, someone...please."

"Well uh-" started Waverly, "I've been trying to gather as much info on Charlie in hopes that something will tell us when he'll strike next or...really anything that makes sense of what's happening right now."

"And then I'll bust in with Peacemaker and tear the bitch apart!" Wynonna shouted, raising the large gun over her head like she was declaring war on the cult right then and there.

"Huh, that reminds me," Alex dug into her jacket pocket. "I found this at the site, and someone-who I'm assuming is apart of the cult-showed up as soon as I pulled it out. I guess it's something of importance to them. Here," she handed the brooch to Waverly, "maybe this will help you with your research."

Waverly held the brooch out so her sister could see it too. They both were inspecting the item closely when a loud crash came from a window shattering. On the floor of the living room, laid a brick with a piece of paper wrapped around it.

"What the hell is this?" Wynonna said, unwrapping the paper. Hale could see the symbol scrawled in red, it was the same as the larger symbol she had seen earlier that day at the shack.

"Take cover, now," Alex said sternly. At that exact moment, bullets started ricocheting off of the house, breaking more of the surrounding windows.

"Shit, Doc help me blast these bastards to hell. Babygirl, stay with the lady cop and try to grab the shotgun!" Wynonna ducked under one of the broken windows. Doc was hiding behind the doorway shooting out of another window. Alex grabbed Waverly's arm and turned to look at her. 

"Stay low and try to get to that shotgun. I got you covered, okay?"

Waverly nodded and began to crawl towards the closet under the stairs. Alex was crouched next to Waverly, moving with her, but making sure not to take her eyes off of the action going on outside. She was taking a few shots when she could get a clear view of any of the cult members outside. They made it to the closet and Alex opened the door for her, still looking outside. Waverly quickly grabbed the shotgun and the box of shells that were laid next to it. Alex made a mental note to lecture the Earp sisters about gun safety at some point.

"Awesome, let's go give doc and your sister some cover," the two made their way back to the front of the house to join Wynonna and Doc. There were still a few lingering cult members that were taking cover behind Wynonna's old blue truck.

"Shit, I'm going to the kitchen to get a better vantage point," called out the detective. She crouched down and made her way over to one of the kitchen windows and started shooting rapidly, almost recklessly.

_They've already tried taking two people today. I'm not giving them the chance to try and take more._

One shot after another, Detective Hale was lighting up the front yard of the Earp Homestead. She heard a click from her empty gun and tried to duck before taking any damage but felt a searing pain in her left arm.

"Fuck!" Alex shouted. She quickly reloaded and raised her firearm to find that the remaining cult members were retreating, dragging bodies and the wounded with them.

"Alex!" Waverly ran towards the Detective. "Are you okay? Where's the blood coming from?"

Waverly looked down at Alex's blood soaked sleeve, but there was no wound to be found. She couldn't hide the look of shock and bewilderment on her face from Alex. The detective pulled away from the brunette. 

"It's fine, I just nicked myself on some broken glass. Good thing I clot fast."

"Hey Beefcake you doing okay in there??" Called out Wynonna.

"Yeah I'm fine! We're fine!" Hale shouted back. She looked down at the brunette, trying to assure Waverly that she was okay and that she didn't just heal from a gunshot wound in ten seconds flat.

"Listen, I don't think it's safe to stay here tonight," Alex looked out the broken window at the dark figures scattering into the night.

Wynonna shot the detective a look, "why not? We got guns and Chinese food! That's plenty to keep these devil lemmings at bay!"

"All the windows are broken and there's bullet holes throughout. There's no way you can sleep here without being completely vulnerable to another attack."

"What makes you think they'll try us twice in one night?" She stepped closer to the detective.

"They tried taking me and my guys out this morning and now they tried taking you all out just minutes ago. It's safe to say that they mean business and don't want anybody interfering with it no matter what."

"Jesus you're good-fine! What do you suggest we do?" Wynonna threw her hands on her hips, slightly annoyed to be taking orders from the lady cop but more so relieved she didn't have to guard the Homestead overnight.

"Grab anything you don't want them looting from you and pack a bag, all three of you will stay with me."

"Does your place have running water?"

"Yes, and cable...and a stocked fridge."

"Hell yeah! Sleepover at the buff girl wonder's place!" Wynonna punched the air out of excitement.

"Wait what if I just stayed at Champs place?" Waverly asked, she really didn't want to stay with Champ, but she was still mortified after the choking incident and couldn't help but be a little suspicious of the detective after what she just saw with the gunshot wound.

"Waverly, you're passing up cable and running water to go stay with your idiot boyfriend?"

"I mean I guess, it's not like they'll find me there will they?"

"They found you here. Plus Champ wrestles cattle, he can't fire a weapon if his life depended on it."

"It's up to you," Alex added, "I have a pretty good security system. If anything gets within 50 yards of the perimeter we will know instantly."

"Come on Waves! Free food!"

"I-alright fine," brunette said reluctantly.

"Cool, meet me at my car in a few minutes, I'll get it warmed up." Alex walked towards the door, Waverly watching her as she left. What really happened to Alex's arm? Did her and her sister make a mistake letting Alex into their home? It's obvious she isn't a revenant because she bled from her wound, but...what is she? 

"Waves! Hurry up and pack, this dump has already gotten eight degrees colder because of the broken windows." Wynonna was already leaving out the door with her bag and Doc in tow.

"Right, I'll be out soon!" The younger Earp sister snapped out of her thoughts and ran upstairs to pack for the impromptu sleepover at Detective Hale's house.

\------

It wasn't long until the group made their way through the tall gates and up the long driveway to Detective Hale's home.

"Jesus H. Christ, Hale maybe Champ was onto something about you being Batman." Wynonna raised an eyebrow at Alex.

"Uh, living expenses are cheap out here, and I grew up in small homes my whole life. So the second I knew I could afford it I got something as close to a dream home as I could...minus the location and all."

"Living large in Purgatory, yeah that is kind of weird," the older Earp sank back into her seat.

Alex pulled into her garage next to her patrol car. "See? unmarked cop car, looks like any other civilian car."

"Relax Hale, I was just breaking your balls, I know you're not The Flash."

Alex disables the alarm and opens a door for the trio, motioning for them to step inside.

"Wow this place is HUGE." gasped Waverly.

"Uh, thanks. Look there's about four bedrooms here, five if you count the game room. So take your pick, help yourself to whatever you find in the kitchen and...make yourself at home I guess." She looked over at Wynonna who had flown onto the sectional in the living room. She kicked her boots off and put her feet up on the dark wood coffee table in front of her.

"There's a few bathrooms scattered upstairs and downstairs. If you need anything else, I'll be upstairs for the rest of the night."

"Sounds goo-ohmygodwhatisthat," Wynonna shot up from her spot on the couch and remained completely still.

Everyone else turned to the sliding glass door to see Hero peering in with a look of equal parts curiosity and caution.

"Detective, if I may rid this creature from your residence..." Doc reached for the gun on his holster.

"If you shoot Hero, I will break both of your wrists without batting an eye." Alex's face matched her serious tone. Doc was visibly baffled at the detective being so protective over the creature. Slowly, he lowered his six shooter.

"You named this beast?"

"Of course," Alex walked over to the glass door and opened it. The trio held their breath and looked on while she bent down and greeted the wolf. "I found him in the woods one day, he was in pretty bad shape. Now, he's quite domestic for a wolf. He's always visiting and begging for food, would you like to meet him?"

Waverly gave a slow but eager nod, Wynonna and Doc looked at each other before following suit.

"Relax guys, he doesn't bite...not unless I tell him too...okay that was a bad joke, I promise he's a good boy." She crouched down to the wolf's level and scratched behind his ears. She met eyes with him for a few seconds before getting up and standing to the side, letting him through to meet the house guests.

Doc was the first one to approach Hero. He crouched down like he saw Alex do before, and reached his hand out slowly. The wolf lowered his head, allowing Doc to ruffle the dark fur atop his head. It was not long until the wolf laid on one side, inviting Doc to scratch his belly.

"Well I'll be, this is quite the domestic creature." Doc was scratching Hero's belly, a child-like wonder and a crooked smile spread across his face. The Earp sisters knelt down next to Doc and also began to pet Hero.

"You know, if you would have told us that you had a pet wolf back at the Homestead, I would have called you crazy."

"Crazier than the girl wielding a big gun to kill demons and other assorted supernatural beings?"

"touche muscles"

"Anyway, Hero is also apart of my security system, when he wants to be. He'll usually patrol around the perimeter and sees anyone way before they can see him. Needless to say, you're safe here."

The wolf stood up, nuzzling against each of the new house guests before sauntering over to the sliding door to be let out again.

"What a night, I'm beat." Wynonna rasped mid yawn and stretch. "Thanks for the hospitality, She-Hulk!" Wynonna trotted up the stairs. Doc turned to the Detective and tipped his hat before following the older Earp sister up the stairs.

"I'll just be in the shower, don't hesitate to come grab me if you need anything." She said to Waverly. The brunette seemed a bit preoccupied as Alex ascended the stairs. Waverly was looking down at the phone in her hand. A message from her best friend, Chrissy flashed on the screen.

_Chrissy: I'm sorry, Waves. I tried to stop him but I'm pretty sure Champ went home with Megan Halshford._

Waverly's heart sank into her stomach. Why would Megan Halshford willingly go home with Champ when she and the rest of Purgatory were well aware of Champ and Waverly? The brunette flopped down on the sectional, placing her phone down on the coffee table and reaching for the remote to numb her mind with whatever she could find on TV. Ultimately, she decided on the SVU Marathon playing on the crime channel.

Alex padded down the stairs, wondering if someone had left the TV on but was surprised to find Waverly staring blankly at the TV screen.

"You're still awake, everything okay?" Alex said in a soft voice.

"Yeah, everything's fine...actually, I'm uh-I'm lying." Waverly stuttered.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know, do you want to tell me what actually happened with your arm at the homestead?"

Alex let out an exasperated sigh, "mind if I sit?" 

"It's your house, Alex."

"Right," Alex gave a nervous chuckle as she eased down next to the younger Earp, "I grew up as an only child, so space is huge for me and I wasn't sure if you were big on space too-and uh-anyway." She cleared her throat, punctuating the end of her nervous banter. Hale could hear Waverly stifle her laughter and felt her shift on the couch...closer to the detective?

"Look," Alex began, "don't tell Wynonna about what happened. She seems like the type to shoot first and ask questions later."

"That depends, who are you?"

"I'm not a revenant if that's what you're trying to ask. I've heard about them before, and I know they don't bleed when they're injured. "

"True, so what are you then?"

"I can't tell you, at least not right now."

"Then when?"

"When we get to know each other a little more-I mean uh you, Wynonna and Doc of course." Alex blushed a bit, turning away from the brunette and looking down at her hands.

"Does Dolls or Nedley know?"

"No, this is just something I've kept to myself. But I will tell you that regardless of who or what I am..I would never do anything to hurt you or Wynonna...or Doc or Dolls, or anybody." Alex looked over at the brunette with deep sincerity. Waverly felt a wave of emotion wash over her. Despite the detective's aloofness and what Waverly witnessed back at the Homestead, there was something that told Waverly to believe Alex with all of her being. 

"Champ is cheating on me as we speak." Waverly looked away and sank deeper into the couch.

"I'm so sorry that was done to you. He's an idiot for treating you so terribly."

"Hah, thanks."

"You don't seem too beat up over it?"

"I know Champ is trash, he's been really sweet like maybe a quarter of the time? I've kind of been getting tired of his shit for the past few weeks. I just, thought maybe it was a phase and we'd get through it. But Wynonna has been reminding me that this has been happening almost since we got together."

"He definitely wasn't the best to you based on what I saw every time I was in Shorty's. That must be tough, though...realizing someone that you spent a lot of time and effort for just blows it in one night for someone else."

"I guess it's for the best."

"You could do so much better than him, Waverly. You're amazing, anyone would be lucky to have you." Alex playfully nudged the brunette's arm with her elbow. Waverly smiled for a second before looking down at her phone.

"I-I think I'm gonna call him."

"Do you think that's a good idea?"

"I don't know, but I'm not going to sleep without shedding his dead weight and finally ending this shitty relationship."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No, stay...please. You can be my hype woman." Waverly reached out and lightly grabbed Alex's arm, briefly tracing her thumb over the detective's forearm. 

"I'll be the best, most quiet hype woman ever. I got you, Waverly." 

The younger Earp sister let out a loud sigh, trying to rid all of her nerves before furiously tapping her phone to call Champ.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Oh-uh-uh-nothing babe! What are you doing up so late? Do you need me to come put you to bed?"

"No Champ. I'm not even home. Let me re-phrase-WHO are you doing?"

"No one, Babe! Why are you calling me at almost two in the morning to just yell at me? Is it that time of the month again?"

"Oh my god, Champ, I know you took Megan home tonight from Brandon's party."

"What? No I didn't, who told you?"

"Chrissy was there the whole time, she even tried stopping you at some point and you still went home with another girl? You're unbelievable, you know that?"

"I'm not the one who is withholding my right to have sex with my actual girlfriend! You can't do that to a man, Waverly, I have needs too!"

"Is that the only reason why we're dating? So you can just use me for sex whenever you want?"

"No, not all the time! Sometimes I'm okay with just cuddling, but what's a relationship without sex?"

"You're disgusting, Champ."

"Wait, if you're not home then where are you? How are you finding out about this?

"It's none of your business at this point Champ."

"Are you with that dyke cop? Is she trying to steal you away from me? Who the fuck does she think she is?"

"I can't believe you just said that. I'm done, Champ-we're done!"

"Are you seriously trying to break up with me over the phone? Come over, please, we can have break-up sex and...probably not break-up."

"Oh no-you know what-goodbye for good, Champ!" Waverly ended the call and tossed her phone to the other side of the sectional, fighting back tears of frustration.

"Hey, you okay?" Alex watched Waverly intently, looking to get a read on what the brunette was feeling in that moment.

"Never better." Waverly choked.

"For what it's worth, the only side of the conversation I could hear was yours and it was pretty amazing." Alex lied, she could totally hear what Champ was saying, every word. But that wasn't something she was going to outright admit especially after almost having to come clean to Waverly about what happened at the Homestead.

"Haha thanks, he uh-he wasn't too nice about it at all...I don't think he took it seriously."

"What makes you say that?"

"He was pretty convinced that you're trying to turn me into a lesbian and steal me away from him."

"Haha, I didn't expect him to even remember who I was. He's got the attention span of a squirrel."

"Oh he's been trying to keep an eye on you since the first time you walked into Shorty's with Dolls. I don't get why though, how could someone figure that a person was gay just based on how they dressed."

"People do that a lot, and I am a lesbian anyway so it's not like they're making an incorrect assumption or anything like that." Alex shrugged.

"I-I didn't know, actually. I didn't want to assume! I just thought you liked dressing more masculine, that's all."

"Oh my god, you're too funny" Alex said in between laughing.

"He uh-he called you a dyke..."

"I've heard that quite a few times before."

"Really? That's terrible."

"It's inevitable, I don't feel like myself if I don't wear men's clothing and that makes me an easy mark for people to hassle. But I got pretty tough skin as a result."

"I'm sorry people are so horrible to you."

"Someday it won't be like this anymore. In the meantime, it's people like you that remind me that I'm not a mistake, that I'm a good person regardless of what others say to me."

The way the Detective was looking at Waverly made her feel the same surge of emotion she felt earlier. She couldn't help but lean into the Detective, pressing her lips against Alex's. Hale felt her heart nosedive into her stomach, should she be doing this? Is Waverly okay? Is she just using her as a quick solution for getting over Champ? Despite her conflicting thoughts, Alex ran both hands up Waverly's arms, one gently cupping the brunette's face and the other pulling her waist closer.

Waverly's mind went blank, only focusing on how soft Alex's lips were and how her strong hands were pulling the brunette deeper into the kiss, deeper into something that she's been wanting for a long time. The two finally came up for air after what felt like ages of passionate kissing.

"Is this okay?" breathed Alex

"I'm sorry, I-I should have asked first.." Waverly bit her lip, hoping that she didn't cross a line with Alex so soon after meeting her.

"Hey, it's okay, really. I just-I don't want you to make any brash decisions, you just broke up with your boyfriend of four years and I just so happened to be here and-"

"Alex," Waverly said softly, cupping one side of the Detective's face. Alex couldn't help but melt into the brunette's touch. God, why did she have such a strong effect on her?

"I've been wanting to do that since I first saw you. And I've only wanted to do it more every time you walked into Shorty's. Alex..." She said, stroking the Detective's cheek with her thumb, "tonight, was the first time in a long time where I felt like someone actually cared about me, like someone actually saw me for me and not just some object, not just another girl."

"You're not, Waverly Earp, you are incredible. I mean that with every ounce of my being. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." 

Waverly tried holding back her tears but her breath hitched, resulting in a few escaping onto her cheeks. She fell into the Detective's arms, crying softly. How could someone whom she just met illicit such strong feelings from her? Alex could feel the brunette's tears soaking into her shirt. She gently stroked her hair with one hand while the other held Waverly tight. "Thanks for still being nice to me even after having to give me the Heimlich maneuver because I'm an idiot," Waverly sniffled.

"Hahah hey, you still managed to look cute while you were choking."

They both shared a laugh, still embracing. 

"Listen," said Alex. "This is great, honestly...but I don't want you to wake up the next morning regretting this," Alex slowly pulled away from Waverly, "we can talk when you're feeling up to it...and when it's not 2:30 in the morning."

Waverly nodded in agreement. Although, she was certain she wasn't going to have any regrets about kissing Alex. They both stood up, lightly brushing hands. Alex blushed, hard. Waverly could see it, and she was living for it. 

"I'll uh-walk you to your room-here lemme grab that." Alex reached for Waverly's bag and started for the stairs, the youngest Earp sister close behind. 

"Here you are, if you need anything..I'm just down the hall," Alex pushed the door open with her free hand. She turned to Waverly, holding out her bag. The brunette reached for the bag, lightly brushing over the detective's knuckles before grabbing the handle and holding the bag by her side. 

"Thanks,"

"For what?"

"For tonight...and just, everything," Waverly leaned in and sweetly kissed Alex on the cheek, "goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Waverly." Hale turned and walked back to her bedroom, hoping that this wasn't just a one night occurrence, that she wasn't just dreaming and none of this actually happened. 

\--------------------------

Alex managed to wake up at 7 am like every other morning. She knew she would be able to sleep in some more since it was her day off, but she wanted to get a head start on her workout and make breakfast for everyone before they woke up. She sat up, yawning and stretching then finally throwing off the covers and walking over to the dresser. She threw on her workout gear and headed downstairs to the backyard, where Hero lay waiting for his breakfast. 

The Detective was almost through with her workout when she heard the sliding door open.

"Shoot, sorry is the music too loud? I usually blast it throughout the house but I figured y'all wanted to sleep in after last night so I-" She dropped down from the pull up bar and turned to find Waverly leaning against the outside bar, looking at her with the same look she had been giving her just hours ago.

"I couldn't even hear it, my body clock made me wake up at 7 am so here I am. I-uh I hope you don't mind, but I made a pot of coffee."

"Oh my god, thank you. No wonder this workout felt so shitty. I can't really operate without caffeine, I have no idea why I didn't make a pot before coming out here."

"Heh, well glad I could be of service then," Waverly winked. 

"I'll definitely be in soon to grab a cup, I'm just about finished. Feel free to keep Hero company, I haven't fed him yet and he gets pretty restless when he waits too long for food."

The brunette turned to where the wolf was laying, Hero let out a soft howl and rolled onto his back as if to tell anyone who was watching him to feed him before he starved to death. Waverly sat on the ground next to Hero and began to gently stroke the fur down his back. She marveled at the wolf beneath her fingers for a bit, then turned her attention to Alex doing muscle-ups on the rig. She watched as the Detective's strong arms and muscular back hoisted her up and over the bar, the glistening sweat on her olive skin. Alex's legs were holding still but the brunette could see that they were also perfectly toned, and her butt looked amazing. Waverly caught herself biting her lip and blushed. She quickly diverted her attention back to the wolf writhing under her fingers out of frustration that he hadn't been fed yet.

"Alright Hero, I'll be right back," Alex wiped the sweat from her face and body and opened the sliding door, inviting the Waverly inside with a swift motion of her hand, she quickly walked past the Detective and slipped inside, catching a smell of Alex's deodorant mixed with sweet sweat. 

"So if you're like hardcore vegan you might want to look away," Alex warned reaching for the refrigerator door.

"Why is that?"

"I just have to feed this venison to Hero and I wasn't sure if you'd get sick or anything." 

Alex was serious, but Waverly couldn't help laughing. "Alex, I've been somewhat desensitized to gore since my sister came back to Purgatory. All we've done is kill revenants like there's no tomorrow."

"Oh, right...well I'll be right back then." Alex carries the large piece of game to the sliding door, Hero was standing on the other side of the door licking his lips. She tossed the meat towards the bowl and Hero caught the whole piece, choking it down.

"So...how does pancakes sound?" Alex tried hiding her bloodied hands so as not to ruin Waverly's appetite.

"You read my mind, Lex," Waverly eased onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar and smiled.

The Detective was caught off guard by the sudden casualty the brunette had adopted. It seemed as though she was beginning to relax around Alex.

"Goooooood morning!" Shouted Wynonna from the top of the stairs.

"Wynonna, I figured you would sleep until noon per usual." Waverly rolled her eyes.

"Usually, yes, but I'm not in my bed so I tend to sleep rather lightly."

Alex was finishing up breakfast as Wynonna plopped herself down on the stool next to Waverly. "So...anything interesting happen last night after I went to bed or?"

"Yeah I uh-I broke up with Champ." 

"FINALLY!" Wynonna cheered. "It took you long enough, babygirl. God, that guy was a flaming bag of dicks."

"Hah, he cheated on me with Megan Halshford last night at Brandon Gomez's party."

"Megan!? I hated her anyway."

"I loved Megan!"

"You didn't know her like I did." Wynonna muttered. "But this is good, we can go clubbing and try to find you a new man! Every. Single. Night." She winked.

Waverly could hear Alex trying to stifle her laughter at the far counter. She shot Wynonna a look of embarrassment and guilt for not telling her sister about her new discovery last night. Waverly didn't want to tell Wynonna anything until whatever she had started with Alex became more than just a heated kiss.

"Pancakes are done, anybody wanna go wake up Doc?"

"Why would I? That's less pancakes for me." Wynonna said while shoving a piece in her mouth.

"Wynonna!" Waverly said with a slight tone of annoyance. She left the breakfast bar and volunteered herself to trot up the stairs and wake up Doc. 

"So I heard you walk my sister over to her bedroom, you're quite the gentleman huh beefcake."

"Yeah, I went to say goodnight and I ended up witnessing the one sided break-up conversation with Champ."

"He's a real piece of work, I'm glad she kicked his sorry ass to the curb. I hope she finally finds someone that treats her well, you know? Someone like you, well uh-in man form I guess." Wynonna was talking but didn't bother to break concentration from her pancakes.

"Haha, only a man can do that?"

"Yeah yeah that sounded pretty stupid when I said it. I guess you'll never know, maybe she'll find herself getting the hots for some buff lady cop that looks eerily similar to you," Wynonna teased while pointing her fork at Alex. 

"What makes you think I'm into girls?"

"Hmmm.." Wynonna said in between bites. "It's definitely the flannel I see you wear all the time."

"You wear flannel too, more than I do actually!"

"Yeah but I throw on like Uggs and leggings, you rock boots and jeans with a baseball cap like 24/7"

Alex gave Wynonna a look of annoyance and slowly slipped into her seat on the other side of the breakfast bar. 

"I own leggings too," she muttered while taking a bite of her pancakes. 

"Good mornin' officer, Wynonna." Doc didn't have a hat to tip but he did it anyway out of habit. 

"Hey Doc, help yourself."

"Thank ya kindly, Alex." He slumped into the chair next to Wynonna and reached over to make himself a plate. Waverly returned to her seat, slightly disappointed that the Detective didn't elect to sit next to her.

"So, do you think you can give us a lift back to the Homestead?"

"Sure thing, it's my day off anyway. I can help you guys fix up the place after I check on Dolls and Jeremy."

"Any word from either of them?"

"No not yet I-" suddenly Alex's phone began to ring, Nedley's name flashed on the screen. "Shit, it's Nedley, excuse me for a moment." She went upstairs to take the call.

"Good morning sir," greeted Hale.

"Detective, I know it's your day off. I just wanted to check in about your meeting with the Earps last night."

"Right, about that. In the middle of debriefing we got interrupted by some cult members. I brought everyone over to my place and we're going back to the Homestead to assess the damage."

"Everyone okay?"

"Of course, sir. Any word on that cold case?"

"That was the other thing I needed to talk to you about. There were two officers handling the case, Barry Beck and Gary Nolm. Unfortunately, Beck passed away in 2005 from alcohol poisoning and Nolm skipped town around the same time Beck died."

"Perfect, I'll if I can work with that anyhow. Uh, sir?"

"Yes?"

"How long have you known about the revenants and supernatural happenings in Purgatory?"

Nedley sighed into the phone, "ever since I met and worked with Ward Earp, it's been apart of my life ever since. I know just about everything this family has had to deal with because of Wyatt Earp."

"That's a lot to deal with by yourself, sir."

"I'm not alone, hell Wynonna and Waverly have spear-headed this mess with all they've got. I'm glad you're now apart of this...well you kind of didn't have a choice."

"I'm glad too, really sir. They're both handling this better than I think I could have."

"You'll help them out heaps, Hale. You're the best I've got and the best there is."

"Thank you, sir."

"That's all, enjoy your day off. Or at least, try to."

"I will sir, see you Monday," she ended the call and headed to her room to change into blue jeans and a dark, henley long sleeve. By the time she came back downstairs, Wynonna was slumped over the breakfast bar moaning from her food-induced coma.

"So. Many. Pancakes." she groaned.

Waverly laughed at Wynonna's pancake-induced misery.

"I'll clean up, we'll leave for the homestead in a few minutes."

"I can help," Waverly added, she had already collected the plates and silverware and was walking to the sink when Alex marched up and took the pile from the brunette's hands.

"Thank you, I got this from here though. You're my guests and I was just going to toss this in to the dishwasher anyway."

"Hmm, I figured you had a maid hiding here somewhere." Wynonna mumbled.

"Uh no, I'm pretty good about keeping stuff tidy here anyway so there's no point in hiring someone else to do it for me."

"Huh, a clean freak...that's serial killer territory, watch out Waverly Officer Muscles might actually be a bad girl," Wynonna winked.

"WYNONNA!" Waverly hissed, smacking her sister's side with such force that Wynonna almost fell off her stool.

Alex laughed under her breath and shook her head. It was nice to receive some sort of affirmation that last night wasn't a dream, even thought it did come in the form of Wynonna's crass jokes. It actually happened, Alex had actually kissed Waverly Earp, and Waverly Earp actually kissed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dialogue with Champ was probably my least favorite part to write lol. But I love making Champ suffer! Anyway, Alex Hale can fight some cult members but can't draw blood for the life of her and that is the tea! Also shout out to Alex the great detective who carefully handled that brooch with gloves but then just put it in her pocket for safe keeping :) Thanks for sticking around this far...it's only going to get better from here...I think...


	3. About Last Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes back to the homestead to fix up the damage, somebody stops by for a surprise visit. 
> 
> Buckle up for a good ole' bar fight! 
> 
> TW: homophobia, transphobia, and violence/blood

Hale pulled her car into the the Homestead driveway. Wynonna was first to leave the car, running up to the Homestead. It didn't look like it was touched any more after last night. However, the damage that was done looked a lot worse in the daylight.

"I'm going to have a field day with those devil sheep when I get my hands on them"

"Easy, Wynonna. It looks like nothing more than a few broken windows and some more scratches." Doc walked next to her, eyeing the Homestead from top to bottom.

"There you have it lady and...beefcake, Doc has successfully volunteered himself to fix this place up all by himself."

"I do not believe I uttered such words."

"Don't worry Doc. I'll be your right hand man." Alex assured the gunslinger.

"Waverly, come help me make sure they didn't touch any of my shit!" yelled Wynonna.

"I'll try to come help out if I can get away from Wynonna," whispered Waverly, she walked towards the stairs, brushing her hand over the Detective's as she walked by . Alex felt a shudder run down her spine, holding onto that sensation for as long as she could before having to come back to reality.

"Shit, I forgot about Dolls and Jeremy. I'll be back in an hour. Measure the windows and text me the dimensions so I can pick up whatever we need from the hardware store okay, Doc?"

"Text...right..." Doc trailed off.

"On second thought, just tell Waverly and she'll send it to me okay?"

A look of relief fell over Doc's face, "that sounds like a much more viable plan."

"Great, see you in a bit," Hale walked back towards her car and was soon driving off of the Homestead property towards the hospital.

\-----------------

Hale was close to the hospital when her phone started ringing.

"Hey, Dolls! I was just about to stop by."

"No need, they're discharging me and Jeremy. Think you could give us a ride?"

"For sure! I can debrief you guys on the meeting with the Earp sisters."

"I can't wait to hear all the details, see you soon, Romeo."

Dolls hung up the phone before he could hear Alex scoff over the phone. She turned up the music playing in her car, replaying last nights events over and over again in her head. Alex couldn't stop thinking about Waverly's lips, her soft touch that made her just melt no matter how she was feeling or what she was doing. She was longing for more physical contact with the brunette, but knew she had to respect Waverly's space, she did just break up with her long term boyfriend. But Wynonna kept hinting that Waverly has been feeling a certain type of way for the Detective for some time. For the Detective, this was much harder to figure out than any case she's ever dealt with in her entire career.

Hale parked her car in front of the hospital, jumping out to open the doors for both Jeremy and Dolls as they left the wheelchairs the nurses had brought them out in.

"Nedley will probably want to see both of you before I take you home," Alex said to the men.

"Yeah yeah-tell us about the meeting? Did you talk to Waverly? Did you talk about me to Wynonna?" Dolls excitedly asked. Jeremy was sharing the same excitement, but he knew better at this point than to try and pull what Dolls was doing with Alex.

"Jesus, Dolls," laughed Alex, "Let me just tell you the story. I went to their place not long after they vetted me in Shorty's right? So I show up and it's Wynonna, Waverly, and Doc."

"Who's Doc?" Dolls asked.

"I'm pretty sure he's just a friend, cool it Dolls."

"Right," Dolls muttered, crossing his arms and shifting in his seat.

"Anyway, remember how I figured it was probably a cult that was doing all of this? Well as it turns out, I was right."

"What kind of cult?" Jeremy asked.

"That, I'm not sure about. But the crazy part is that these cult members are trying to receive a demon into their bodies. And if they're not deemed worthy to do so, then they kill themselves."

"You mean John Doe did all that to himself??" Dolls and Jeremy were in complete shock.

"Exactly! Anyway I tried asking more about it but some cult members showed up and a gun fight ensued."

"And everyone is okay?" Dolls asked, obviously out of concern for Wynonna.

"Yes, everybody was a good shot, surprisingly. I didn't want anyone staying there after all that happened, so I invited everyone over to stay at my place."

"Ooh, this is getting good," joked Jeremy.

"Haha, the best part of the night was listening to Waverly dump Champ over the phone."

"NO WAY-DUDE THIS IS IT, SHE'S ALL YOURS."

"Dolls, Waverly doesn't belong to anyone...and neither does Wynonna"

"Yes, right..my bad."

"It's all good. Anyway as soon as she hung up the phone-we had a moment and we kissed."

"OHHH MYYYY GOODDDDDD!" both men shouted in unison.

"My ears, y'all!"

"Sorry, that's amazing though! You save the day and you get the girl? Wow, I hope cupid hooks me up like he did for you." Dolls gave a playful punch to the detective's arm. 

"Yeah, I got really lucky, honestly. But don't tell Nedley, I don't need him coming after me for ruining his one true pair."

"Oof, that's right. Well your secret is safe with me and Jeremy...right?" Dolls slowly turned to the man sitting in the backseat.

"What? OH! Yes of course, I won't tell a soul...well mostly because I don't have a soul to tell it to but I also have a strong sense of morals so I wouldn't do that to you anyway because you're my friend! Well I don't know if you consider me a friend but I do consider you MY friend because you did kind of pull me out of a burning shack and saved my life and-"

"Dude, you're good. It's all good, just zip it in front of Nedley okay?" Alex tried her best to assure the obviously nervous man.

"Right, zip it Jeremy, got it!"

"Great, and just like that, we're here!" The trio stepped out of Hale's car and headed inside the police station.

\---

"Morning, sir." Alex greeted the sheriff who was sitting at his desk reading another file.

"There's my boys! In one piece too! How are you two?" Nedley rarely ever smiled, but couldn't hide his joy and relief seeing Dolls and Jeremy standing in his office and not laid in a hospital bed or worse.

"All good for now, they did give us some meds to keep us breathing right until we go back for a check-up." Jeremy stated.

"Great, I'm glad you guys are okay. Thanks again, Hale."

"It was nothing sir, I know they would have done the same for me."

"Well, I would try...but you and Dolls weigh the equivalent of about four of me so I'm glad it wasn't me who had to drag either of you out of that fire." Jeremy chimed in.

"Dolls, feel free to take some time off if you need. I can pair Hale up with Lonnie and see how long she could deal until she drags you back on the clock."

"I'll think about it sir. I don't think Hale would be as inclined to save my butt again if I just left her with Lonnie for more than a day."

"Understood. As for you Jeremy, you're the lead CSI agent so you technically don't have to answer to anybody if you decide to take time for yourself"

"Ah, I do love being the boss. I just might, but then again, staying in that hospital bed allowed me to get more than sleep than I have gotten in a year so I might be good to go..."

Nedley looked concerned, "you should definitely take a day or two, son."

"Yeah, totally. A day off sounds nice."

"Great, well I'll let Hale take you home in just a minute, I need to speak with her in private." That was enough for both men to leave the room almost immediately.

"So, did you have to tell either of them about what was really happening?"

"No, I just mentioned the cult and what they do and why they are doing it. They didn't seem too surprised by everything? That's good right?"

"I suppose."

"When do you think you'll tell them?"

"I have no idea. If things get bad, we might need to fill Dolls in."

"Sounds like a plan, sir."

"Alright, get them back to their places in one piece for me, okay Hale?"

"I can do that, sir," Hale turned and left out of the Sheriff's office, walking straight out the front door with the two men following behind.

"Do you want to share?" Dolls asked.

"It wasn't anything important guys, don't worry."

"I guess that's better than him tearing your head off about Waverly," Dolls teased.

"Shut it," hissed Alex, "let's get you home, boneheads. I have to go back and help the Earp sisters with their home improvement project."

"I can help!" Dolls said over enthusiastically.

"I have nothing to do either so I'm fine helping too!" Jeremy added.

"No you guys should rest more-" Alex's phone beeped, showing a message from Waverly.

_Waverly: Hey! Doc said you wanted me to pass on the windows dimensions? Anyway, here you go, hurry back!(:_

_Alex: Hey, thanks! I'm on my way to the hardware store and I'll be back soon, with help too! Dolls and Jeremy were keen on offering their assistance._

_Waverly: Sounds good, see you soon, Lex!_

"Alright, you guys can help," Alex said reluctantly.

"Sweet! Wait, where's the deodorant you keep in your car? Lonnie didn't bring mine when he dropped clothes off for us." Dolls began to rummage around in the middle console of Hale's car.

"Glove box, dude."

"Perfect, I'm about to smell soo good."

Hale shook her head at Dolls as she continued driving towards the hardware store. It was a quick trip since Doc was better at figuring out what they needed for the windows more than figuring out how to operate a cell phone. It was a fairly quick trip to grab the supplies and end up back at the Homestead.

"Hey Doc! This is Jeremy and Officer Dolls, help us bring the rest of these supplies and let's get to work!"

"Pleased to meet ya both! I am happy to oblige, Detective," Doc ran to the car and pulled the rest of the supplies from the trunk.

"Wynonna! Waverly! we're back!" called Alex.

"Oh hell yeah, now I definitely don't have to do anything." Wynonna cheered as she descended the stairs. Waverly appeared from the dining room, attempting to look as casual as can be despite being excited to see Alex.

"Hey Alex, hi Dolls, and...Jeremy right?"

"That's me!"

"Awesome, with this many hands we'll be done in no time!"

\-------------------------

It was about late afternoon by the time everything was finished. The homestead looked slightly better than the condition it was in at the time of the attack.

"This place looks pretty darn good! Good work dudes!" Wynonna stood back admiring the Homestead.

"Thank you so much for your help guys," Waverly looked around at the tired faces.

"It was no problem, really I can do this anytime," Dolls huffed.

"So, I'm pretty hungry. Should we grab something from the deli close by?" Asked Dolls

"I love that place! I can come with!" Wynonna yelled.

"I think I'm gonna hang back here and keep an eye on the house. Wynonna, can you bring me back something?"

"You got it sis! Muscles, you should stay, to uh...keep her company" Wynonna winked.

"Sounds like a plan. Dolls, you know my usual, you can take my car." Alex tossed the keys over to the officer.

"You got it, Jeremy you're coming with us, let's bond."

"I'm always down for some bonding!"

"I guess I too, should head over to the deli," Doc chimed in.

"Be back soon, call us if there's trouble okay? OOH shotgun!" Wynonna raced to Hale's passenger seat. Dolls slid into the driver's seat with a small grin on his face.

"Your sister is pretty smooth, getting us alone together." The pair walked into the homestead, stopping in the living room.

"Haha yeah I guess she's a pretty good wing woman when she wants to be."

"Although, she didn't do you any favors this morning."

"Ugh I know! Did she say anything to you when I was waking Doc up?"

"Just that you may or may not have the hots for a 'buff lady cop that looks eerily similar to me" Hale mimicked the older Earp sister in the most sarcastic tone she could make.

"Oh, I'm gonna kill her...you didn't hear that."

"Haha honestly I'd thank her if I knew she wasn't going to start popping off one liners and pussy jokes."

"You-you would?" Waverly looked at the Detective, eyes wide with nervousness and excitement.

"I mean, yeah...it made everything that happened last night much more real."

"Did you not think it was real before?"

"Not entirely," "it felt like something out of a movie. And I'm still not sure why it happened."

"You still think I'm just using you to try and cope with the break up don't you?"

"Kind of? I know you wouldn't use a person like that but...I guess I'm just a bit scared?"

"Haha, if we're being honest, YOU scare ME."

"I-I scare you?" Alex turned and looked at Waverly. Deep amber eyes looking hard into hazel eyes. Waverly held eye contact with the detective for a few seconds before swallowing hard.

"Yeah, like a lot. Everything that happened last night felt so right. I never even felt that way when I started dating Champ. It's like I had been missing out on something that was right in front of me the whole time."

"Wow, so all this is...really happening?"

"Yeah."

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, but it felt like hours. Waverly grabbed Alex's face and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss. The detective wrapped her arms around the brunette's waist and pulled her close, causing Waverly to let out a small whimper from the sudden contact. She pressed her body into Alex, who reached back to grab onto the couch and lower the two down safely. Waverly was straddling the detective, feverishly kissing soft lips as if it were her only source of oxygen. Alex calmly let her hands travel over the brunette's body, attempting to ground herself because she feared that this wasn't her reality. She tried focusing on how soft the brunette felt beneath her fingers. How Waverly's perfume tickled her nose and made her weak in fell swoop. They way she was straddling Alex, grinding her body into the detective's as if she was trying to get closer than she already was.

Alex's opened her eyes to the faint sound of a car approaching the Homestead. She turned towards the door and sat up, gently guiding Waverly off of herself and onto the space next to the detective.

"What's wrong?" Waverly asked, taken aback by the abrupt end. She held onto Alex's forearm, still starved for contact with the detective.

"Someone's coming." Alex was looking outside, scanning the neighboring road to find the approaching car.

"I don't hear anything, are you sure?" Waverly stood up, trying to find what Alex was looking for, straining her ears to hear anything that remotely resembled a car.

"It's not Dolls, they just left. Who else knows you're here?"

"I have no idea, wait Alex how-" Waverly finally saw a familiar truck barrel through the Homestead property, Champ's truck.

"Shit," she gasped, "Alex, you should go upstairs," Waverly feared that Champ would do something stupid if he were to find out that it was only her and the detective in the Homestead.

"I'm not doing that...plus I think he's drunk so I'm definitely not leaving you alone with him. Here, hide this" she grabbed her firearm and handed it to Waverly, who check to make sure there wasn't a bullet in the chamber and the safety was engaged. She quickly went to the closet under the stairs, placing the gun on the top shelf and closing the door. Waverly turned around to find that Champ had let himself in with a key she had given him a few years ago.

"Baby! Hey, we need to talk...take a hike, dyke," Champ couldn't help but giggle at his clever rhyme. Alex rolled her eyes but kept her attention pointed towards the inebriated man.

"I'm not leaving, Champ, you are," she said sternly.

"This ain't your place, bitch. Waverly, baby, tell her to leave please."

The brunette took a few steps forward, crossing her arms and planting her feet firmly next to Alex. "She stays. I don't want to talk, Champ I told you we were done last night."

"You don't mean that," he slurred, "you know I'm the only one who can give you what you want," he teased, grabbing his crotch, "the only one who can put up with your shit." his voice grew louder and he began to take a more aggressive stance towards both women.

"You need to leave Champ before I put you in handcuffs,"

"You're such a stone faced bitch, Hale. I don't know what Nedley saw in you that made him pick you over me as the newest recruit," Champ spit, stumbling closer to the officer.

"Step your game up, Champ. Not everything will come easy to you just because you're a good looking rodeo clown."

"Now you're coming on to me? Pick a side! Butch isn't my type anyway."

"Champ stop!"

"No, this isn't funny anymore, Waverly. You can stop pretending to like her, come back to me, baby."

"I don't belong to you, Champ..or anyone for that matter." Alex tried to hide her grin as she agreed with Waverly's sentiment.

Champ became visibly enraged, realizing that he wasn't going to get Waverly back. He stared the detective down and threw a right hook at her but she quickly blocked it with her forearm. She gave a swift push kick to put distance between them.

"Champ you're drunk, I don't want to fight you." Alex warned, Champ settled into a fighting stance, ignoring the detective.

"It's not like you can anyway, you might look like a man but you still fight like a girl." Champ slurred, he walked closer to the detective until they were only a few inches from each other's faces.

Alex maintained a cold stare into Champ's glazed over eyes, Champ shoved her and Hale shoved him back hard, causing Champ to fly backwards into the front door. Hale could hear the wind get knocked out of Champ as he fell to his knees, gasping for air. She balled her fists and raised them to fight more until she felt a delicate, but protective hand grab her arm.

"Alex, please," pleaded Waverly, her hazel eyes desperately searching for any sign of mercy in the detective's face.

"Shit-" Hale only had enough time to quickly but carefully push the brunette aside, bracing for impact as Champ charged her up against a wall. He tightly wrapped both hands around Alex's neck and squeezed. Alex held her breath and tensed her neck, fighting the man's attempt to choke her. She swiftly punched Champ's right elbow and felt it shatter. He screamed in agony and dropped the detective as he doubled over in pain. Waverly ran to Alex and threw the detective's arm over her shoulders, the other arm holding onto her waist as the brunette used all her strength to keep the detective upright.

"Alex, breathe okay? Just breathe, you're okay, I got you," she stood as still as she could while the detective slowed her breathing. Wynonna was the first to bust through the door while everyone else quickly followed after to see what the commotion was.

"You dun' fucked up now, little boy," Wynonna grabbed Champ by the collar of his shirt and dragged him out the front door.

"Dolls, go with her and make sure she doesn't catch an assault charge," Alex was still trying to catch her breath, "Try to cuff him and tell Lonnie to pick him up and take him to the hospital."

"Holy shit what did you do to him, Hale?" Dolls looked outside and saw Champ's limp right arm was bent at an unnatural angle. He ran outside, yelling at Wynonna to drop the bat she had picked up on the way to the front yard. She quickly tapped Champ's groin with the bat before throwing it far away from her before Dolls finally reached her.

"I wasn't going to hurt him! Maybe a little, but it was merited!"

Waverly felt Alex regain her balance and stand up straight, she turned and cupped the right side of the detective's face. "I'm so sorry..I-I didn't know he was going to show up-let alone-" Alex reached up and lightly grabbed the brunette's hand that was resting on her jawline. "Hey," she soothed, "it's okay, I'm okay. I wasn't going to let him hurt you."

Waverly fought back tears as she leaned up to kiss Alex's cheek. The two looked out of the open front door as Officer Lonnie approached the injured man and accidentally tried to hoist him by his broken arm. Champ howled and dropped to the ground as Lonnie scrambled to pick the man up by his other arm and lead him to the back of the squad car.

"Jesus, Lonnie," Alex muttered under her breath. Waverly seized the opportunity to have a laugh, releasing most of the tension that had built up in her body from what had just happened.

"I do believe you have earned this sandwich, detective." Doc placed the food down on the coffee table.

"Thanks, I'll take this to go. I gotta get Dolls and Jeremy back and try to talk the Sheriff down before he gives me an earful."

"Let me go with you, he won't yell at you if I'm there. Plus, I want to tell him that Champ and I are done," Waverly was already walking towards the detective's car before Alex could protest.

"Dolls, let's go!" the officer gave Wynonna a stern look before playfully waving goodbye as he jogged to the car. He tried to open the passenger door but the brunette was quick to lock it, teasing him from inside the car as he sulked over to the rear passenger door. Once everyone was inside the car, Alex started off towards Jeremy's house. It was a short drive and Dolls excitedly stretched out in the back seat before positioning himself right behind the middle console.

"So, are you guys a thing yet? You can thank me later for giving you some alone time!" Dolls didn't try to hide his smugness, Waverly looked at him sideways before meeting the detective's amber eyes. "We'll keep you posted, Dolls," Alex pulled into the Officer's apartment complex garage. "Well, good luck with Nedley!" Dolls was quick to leave the vehicle and trot over to the waiting elevator.

"I'm so screwed," Alex was visibly nervous. She didn't bat an eye fighting the 6'2 rodeo star, but the thought of having to explain to Nedley that she was only protecting herself after Champ accused her of stealing away Waverly made her heart pound against the wall of her chest. The sounds of her heart thumping quickly faded into the background when she realized that Waverly had grabbed her right hand that was resting on the gear-shift.

"He'll understand," she sounded so sure about it. Alex gave her hand a squeeze while keeping her eyes on the road. She couldn't help but believe the brunette's words, prompting her to feel a lot better about having to talk to Nedley.

\-------

"Lex! Lonnie said you shattered Champ's elbow, what the fuck happened?" Dolls was practically screaming into the phone.

"He was choking the shit out of me and I had to make sure he couldn't hurt Waverly if I passed out." Alex was speaking to Dolls hands free in her car as she and Waverly were driving back from the police station. "Hey, you think you're up for our usual trip to Shorty's?"

"Always, I'll meet you there, Lex!" Hale let Dolls end the call before turning to the brunette who had fallen asleep in the passenger seat. Alex pulled the car into her garage, "Waverly, hey. I got to get cleaned up before we go back to the Homestead." The younger Earp sister let out a small moan while she stretched to wake herself up. She rubbed her eyes and unbuckled her seat belt, easing herself out of the car and trudging behind the detective as she opened the door, leading them both inside.

Alex was in pretty high spirits despite having her windpipe just about crushed a few hours ago. Sheriff Nedley was very receptive to hearing about what happened at the Homestead, especially since Waverly did most of the talking. She explained to Nedley that Champ was no longer her boyfriend, Nedley took the news to heart but respected Waverly's choice. He informed the detective that he will keep this incident off the record, especially since Alex elected to get Champ to the hospital instead of simply throwing him in a holding cell.

Alex took Waverly's hand and led her upstairs to her bedroom, "feel free to nap while I get cleaned up."

"Let me help with any cuts and bruises you might have," Waverly took the lead and brought Alex into the master bathroom.

"Yeah...about that...there isn't any," Alex was hesitant to admit that any cuts and bruises had healed a while ago. "Right, sorry," Waverly blinked, pulling away from Alex. The detective reached out for the brunette's face, "thank you, though," she punctuated her sentence with a kiss on Waverly's forehead. "I'm just gonna shower and change clothes, I'll be right out," Alex walked over to her dresser and pulled out a change of clothes. "Hey Google, play my songs on Spotify." Ari Lennox began to flood the house at a mild roar. Waverly sank down into the bed and listened to the music accompanied by sounds of the shower, letting herself drift off to sleep knowing that she was finally safe in the detective's home.

About twenty minutes had passed before Waverly woke up to the feeling of the bed dipping close to her feet. She lifted herself onto her elbows and saw Alex sitting at the foot of the bed, putting on her socks. She stood up and Waverly quickly realized that the detective wasn't wearing any pants, just a pair of boxer briefs that were covered in a funky banana pattern. Waverly blushed at the sight of how good Alex's butt looked in the underwear.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you. You could probably get a few more minutes of rest in before we have to leave."

"It's okay," Waverly whispered, rubbing one eye before getting out of bed, "nice undies," she teased. Alex blushed and quickly put on her jeans, "sorry, I should have changed in the bathroom I didn't mean to-" she was interrupted by Waverly pressing her lips against her own. She inhaled deeply, as if kissing Waverly was the only time she could truly breathe. "It's okay, I promise," Waverly thumbed the detective's bottom lip before running her fingers down and up the detective's neck ever so lightly, cognizant of the fact that Alex had sustained an injury to the same area just hours before.

"On that note, I'm ready to go...are you?" asked Hale, the brunette nodded and held out her hand for Alex to take. The detective clasped her hand over Waverly's and walked downstairs back to the garage.

It didn't take long for the pair to arrive at Shorty's, Waverly only wanted to freshen up at the Homestead with a sweat-free top and some extra perfume. Dolls had arrived a few minutes before with Jeremy and had been sat at the private table on the far end of the bar.

"Wynonna, you left the front door unlocked," Waverly slid into the booth after Alex, sitting considerably closer to the Detective since the last time they shared the booth.

"I know, I meant to do that...to see if you'd notice. Congrats sis! Nothing gets past you," the Older Earp took a swig from the pint glass in her hand. "So, Dolls told us you actually shattered Champ the Chump's elbow, that's pretty bad ass, she-hulk" Wynonna raised her glass, being the only one to toast to Alex's victory over Champ. She finished her drink and excused herself to go lean over the bar and pour herself another glass.

"I stan she-hulk! Er, I mean Alex!" Jeremy raised his glass and nervously downed the entire drink. "Hey Wynonna I'm coming for a refill!" He flew out of the booth, leaving the rest to watch as he tried to mimic Wynonna's movements before she finally snatched the glass from him and did it herself. 

"You beat the shit out of Nedley's favorite person and you get a fan club in return?" Dolls shook his head out of jealousy and sipped his drink.

"Hope it's a high carb day for you muscles, this ones on me," Wynonna slid a pint of cider towards Alex. The detective reached for the drink and raised it to the older Earp before taking a sip. "Thank you."

"Well yeah, thanks uh, for protecting my baby sis from that big d bag," Wynonna chugged the glass until it was half empty. She wasn't really working but she was sure drinking like she was.

The group suddenly turned to the middle of the bar to find a that some of the bargoers gathered around two men throwing sloppy punches at one another. Alex and Dolls hopped over the table, shouting at the men to break it up with no luck. The two officers put themselves inbetween the fight, separating the two men as they kept swinging.

"Police! Everybody back up right now!" they both flashed their badges and the crowd obliged. 

"Hold on a second," said the man Alex had separated, "aren't you the bitch that broke both of Champ's arms?"

"No, I just broke one," said Hale sarcastically. The man shoved the detective, "that boy was supposed to make me money this weekend at the county rodeo, I'm out five grand thanks to you."

"Not my problem, tell your boy to keep his hands to himself," she took a step towards the man, almost baiting him to hit her. 

"I'm gonna enjoy this," the bar goer cracked his knuckles and reached back for a punch but was interrupted by Hale kicking him square in his sternum. All hell broke loose and almost everyone in the bar started fighting with one another. Jeremy hid for cover under the table while Doc, Waverly and Wynonna all scrambled to help the two officers. Waverly ran to the pool table and grabbed a pool cue and starting wielding it like a bo staff at the aggressive drunkards. Wynonna jumped on the gambler from behind, allowing Alex to kick him in the groin and bring the man to his knees with a headbutt. Wynonna was quick to land on her feet as the man fell before her, "jesus, beefcake you're hardcore." Alex barely heard the older Earp as she turned around, but she absolutely felt Wynonna pat her butt the same way football players do so after a touchdown. Wynonna turned her back as well, the two were back to back with their arms defensively raised as three men closed in on them. 

"Time to clean house,"

"Yeah thanks for closing the bar down so damn early, Hale"

"I had to pay you back somehow for being a good wing woman,"

Alex heard Wynonna let out a short burst of laughter, followed by the sound of a fist making contact with someone's jaw. She didn't waste any more time and kicked one of the men coming at her right in the gut. Alex blocked the third man's attempts to block her but didn't see the second man get up to punch her in the kidney. She crumpled, feeling burly arms hook her own, holding her in place so the other man could get a few punches in. Alex struggled, putting up a fight despite getting hit too many times to count. Suddenly, the man fell to the ground, Waverly was standing over him with the pool cue firmly in her grip. "GET OFF OF HER," the tiny brunette yelled. The man threw Alex to the side, charging at Waverly but falling short as Alex tackled the man to the ground, handcuffing him. Dolls and Doc were tossing other men across the room towards the exit. Most of the bar goers stopped fighting and ran out on their own. 

Slowly but surely, everyone else left in the bar was thrown out by the officers and Wynonna. The older Earp turned around to assess the damage the brawl had inflicted on the bar. Alex tapped dolls and they both started returning chairs back to tables. Jeremy appeared out from under the table and grabbed a broom to sweep up the broken glass scattered about the room. Waverly helped Doc clean up around the bar itself while Wynonna started closing everything down. The team effort made the cleanup fly by, everyone was about finished when a man wearing a long dark trench-coat and a black stetson hat appeared in the doorway.

"We're closed, cowboy. Come back tomorrow for more shenanigans," Wynonna turned her back to the man and continued closing up the bar. The man did not move any further, he scanned the room until his eyes met Alex's. A devilish grinned spread across his face as he reached into his coat. Behind him, a small group of cult members appeared, each armed with either guns, or...arrows? 

"Dolls!" Alex called to her partner, who sprung into action and tackled Wynonna behind the bar. The man opened fire on the group with two six-shooters. Doc was quick to draw his gun and return fire. The members wielding guns joined in, shooting wildly at anything and everything. Dolls and Wynonna were returning fire from behind the bar while Alex took cover with Jeremy behind the farthest side of the bar. She waited until she heard the sound of guns reloading to stand and take aim. One member raised their bow and shot it, launching an arrow right into the side of the detective. By the time Alex realized what was happening, a bullet from another member pierced her shoulder, promptly dropping her to the bar floor. The intruding group suddenly ceased fire and quickly exited Shorty's. Waverly came from behind the wall towards the back of the bar and saw Alex lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood.

"Alex!" she ran to the detective, Jeremy had crawled over to offer assistance. Alex reached over and attempted to pull out the arrow lodged in her side, only being able to remove the base of the projectile instead, leaving the arrowhead deep in her flesh. 

"Fuck," she gasped, her head fell back onto the bar floor. Her eyes fluttering as she fought to remain conscious. Wynonna, Doc, and Dolls were long gone as they had ran outside to try and catch the cult members. Waverly grabbed a rag from atop the bar counter and pressed it against the larger wound in Alex's side.

"Alex stay with me. Stay with me, baby."

"Get this out of me, now," the detective growled, too in pain to revel in the fact that Waverly called her a pet name. 

"Jeremy, Jeremy grab the first aid kit it's behind the counter under the whiskey." Jeremy had virtually flown over the counter to retrieve the first aid kit. He flipped it open and slid it towards the brunette who was doing her best to keep Alex from passing out. She grabbed the gauze and anything else that could be of use at this point before dumping out the rest of the kit's contents all over the bar floor.

"Shit, none of this stuff is going to help me get the arrow and bullet out. Wait! My tweezers, quick-Jeremy toss me my purse. Hang in there Alex I'm gonna fix this okay? You're gonna be okay." He found the bag and tossed it towards Waverly. She pulled the tweezers out and removed the hand holding the rag over the wound. 

"hold her hand,"

"Okay," Jeremy grabbed Alex's limp hand with both of his. Holding his breath as he watched Waverly reach in with the tweezers to extract the arrowhead. Alex's eyes shot open, they were glowing an electric blue and she let out a guttural roar, almost crushing Jeremy's hand in the process. Waverly was shaken by the loud noise but kept enough focus to extract the arrowhead from Alex's side. "I'm almost done, baby, you're okay." Waverly collected herself as best as she could before handing the rag to Jeremy, "here, hold this over the wound." He was trying to hide the mix of pain and fear from his face as he reached for the rag and did what he was told. Waverly moved to the other side of Alex and drew a deep breath before repeating her movements. Alex winced from the pain and couldn't stop herself from letting out a loud and deep growl as Waverly pulled the bullet out of her shoulder. Alex's eyes were still glowing blue as Waverly and Jeremy worked quickly to bandage the two wounds. Waverly threw off the denim jacket she was wearing and tucked it under Alex's head. Jeremy cleaned off the arrowhead and inspected it closely. Noticing the purple residue all over the arrowhead. He quickly pocketed both the items extracted from the detective, making a mental note to test them in his lab as soon as possible. Waverly tried her best to fight back tears as she stroked Alex's hair. She was having trouble processing everything that had just happened. Why did it seem like the cult was only gunning for Alex? Why wasn't she healing as fast as she did when they attacked the homestead? What the hell was wrong with Alex's eyes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea a) how long it actually takes to install windows b) how tall Champ Hardy actually is but who cares?? Anyway, I see the beginning of a beautiful bromance between Wynonna and Alex! That bar fight was fun to write!! Let's hope Jeremy's hand and psyche are okay(:
> 
> This is pretty much the end of the chapters I had waiting to post on here...so further chapters will take a little more time to post. Thank you so much for your time and interest in this story, stick around for more! And uh, I'm bad at writing smut sooooo for the time being I'll just open that door from time to time and y'all just use your imaginations((:


	4. The Less I Know, The Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waverly and Jeremy continue helping Alex at Shorty's. A new development gives the gang some advantage to finally end Charles and his cult. 
> 
> TW: Suicide and blood (not related).

The detective began to come to and only saw the outline of a figure above her. Her vision was still hazy but she could hear it talking to her. "Don't move, Lex, save your strength okay? You're safe now," She felt soft lips on her forehead, the smell of Waverly's perfume flooded her senses. She suddenly remembered that she was in the middle of Shorty's and tried to get up again. This time a sharp pain shot through her side, pinning her back down to the bar floor. She could sense the worry radiating off of Waverly before she had even begun to say anything. 

"Waves..." She choked, "what happened?"

"Some guy and a couple of those cult members came in and shot up the place."

"Are you hurt? Is anyone hurt?"

"No Lex, they left as soon as you hit the ground. It seemed like they were only gunning for you."

"Lovely...where is everyone?"

"Jeremy is just around the corner, Wynonna and the others took off after the cult."

Waverly was looking at Alex with soft, concerned eyes. Scanning over the detective to find any further injuries.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just...you were dying in my arms, Alex. And now you're...conscious...and alert? I just want to know how, and why."

Alex reached up, cradling the left side of Waverly's face as the brunette gave her palm a gentle kiss.

"Do you trust me?"

"I do, Alex."

Hale swallowed hard, everything that the two have gone through in the past 24 hours had brought them closer than what Alex had anticipated. She couldn't believe that Waverly was still here despite being deprived the truth of what Alex really is, a werewolf.

"Can you stand?" Waverly asked.

"I think so, " Alex slowly sat up, Waverly was trying her best to support the detective but her frame was quite dense with muscle. For a few seconds the detective was able to hold herself up, but stumbled soon after, prompting the brunette to quickly duck under one of Alex's arms and support her.

"Jeremy, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find out why someone would bust into Shorty's and start shooting bullets and arrows that are laced with Wolfsbane?" 

Jeremy was trying to hide the fact that he probably already knew why. He couldn't stop thinking about how Alex's eyes were glowing only minutes ago, how she was able to elicit a sound that he's never heard any human make before. He started thinking about how the detective could have possibly gotten him and Dolls to the hospital faster than any ambulance... or any car for that matter.

"Hey, if you come up with any theories, call me and only me okay?" Waverly made sure to hold firm eye contact with the CSI agent, she didn't want him telling anyone else, or at least didn't want him telling anyone without telling her first. "I'm gonna take Alex home, are you good to wait for Dolls?"

"I can, I just don't know when they'll be back, or if they'll be back."

"You're welcome to crash at my place, Jeremy. On second thought, that was more of an order than an invite." Alex winced, trying to pull away from Waverly to support herself but the small brunette wouldn't let her go.

"I'm game, sleepovers are fun." Jeremy was nervous to be going to Hale's house after tonight, but something was telling him that he could still trust her.

"Great, grab my bag will ya and help me get her to the car, you're a lot more heavier than you look, Lex." Alex laughed and spit some blood onto the bar floor. Jeremy reached down for Waverly's purse and ducked under Alex's other arm. The trio carefully made their way out of the bar and towards the Detective's civilian car. "Shotgun!" Alex called.

It was a short drive back to Alex's place. Waverly pulled into the garage and stepped out to open the car door for Alex. She did her best to try and help her out of the car and up the stairs leading into the house. Alex disarmed her security system and re-armed it after everyone had made their way inside.

"Wow Lex, this place is nice." Jeremy said in awe.

"Thanks, feel free to pick any of the guest bedrooms upstairs. There's bathrooms scattered about, too. Just let me know if you need anything, otherwise make yourself at home."

"Thanks, I think I'll just call it a night if that's okay."

"Yeah no prob, see you in the morning,"

The brunette grabbed Alex's hand and began to lead her upstairs.

"So, feel free to pick whatever room Jeremy doesn't end up in."

"How about yours?"

"Oh, uh yeah sure, did you want to sleep alone or?" Alex bit her lip, the idea of sharing a bed with Waverly sounded like pure bliss.

"Together, let's go to sleep," Waverly led the two into the detective's bedroom and sat on the bed, watching as the detective gingerly picked out some boxer briefs and a shirt for bed.

"I'm going to shower to get some of this blood off of me," Alex began to hobble over to the bathroom.

"I want to be able to help you out if you need it," Waverly assured Hale. The detective blushed, but she didn't want to upset the brunette by not listening to her, she left the bathroom door slightly ajar-enough for Waverly to be able to peer in and check on Alex. She tried removing her shirt first, but was too weak and too sore from earlier. Waverly heard a nervous laugh from the other side of the bathroom door, "Waverly..." Alex trailed off, half hoping the brunette didn't hear her so she could just continue to attempt undressing on her own. 

"Lex?" Waverly was at the door but wasn't looking in yet. 

"I uh, I need help taking off my shirt.." the brunette slowly entered the bathroom, giving a Alex a warm smile to try and quell her nerves. She reached for the hem of the shirt and began to pull it up and over the detective's body. Alex obediently lifted her arms, letting the brunette remove the shirt and place it on the bathroom counter. Waverly did her best to avert her eyes from the detective's chest and Alex was quick to cross her arms over her chest once both of her arms were free. Waverly looked down at the wound in Alex's side. It was beginning to scab already, so was the gunshot wound on Alex's shoulder. 

"Thanks, I can take my pants off...by myself," Alex kept her arms crossed over her chest and gave the brunette a half smile as she watched Waverly exit the bathroom, leaving the door ajar once more. She turned on the shower and asked her Google Assistant to play her R&B playlist. Waverly let out a deep sigh as she sank into the bed. She was more than relived to be somewhere else with Alex, and not still on a blood soaked floor standing over Hale's body. Her mind was racing, thinking about possible explanations for Alex's peculiar strength, sharp hearing and her ability to heal extremely fast. Typically, Waverly was quick to come to a conclusion, especially after dealing with the supernatural almost all of her life. That was her reality, but even to her it seemed a bit far fetched to consider that route so early on in this...relationship?

Alex emerged from the bathroom and lumbered over to the bed, lowering herself down so she was laying on her back. She winced from the soreness, and looked over at the brunette who was scrolling through her phone. Waverly could feel Alex staring at her, she looked up from her phone and realized that amber eyes were just inches away from her face.

"What's up?"  
"You called me baby," Alex teased with a smile.  
"Haha, I did...was that okay to do? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable about it."  
"No, it was nice. I just didn't get to appreciate when you said it since I was you know...slightly dying."

"I'm glad you're not anymore," Waverly laughed nervously. She inched closer to the detective, who naturally threw her arm over the brunette, pulling her in closer. Waverly carefully wrapped her arm around Alex's upper torso, making sure to not touch either of the detective's injuries. She laid her head on Hale's chest, listening to her heartbeat as they both drifted off to sleep.

\-------

Alex opened her eyes and realized she was in a forest. 

"Motherfu-," a flaming arrow whizzed past the detective's head. She took off and didn't bother to turn and see where the arrow came from. Hale made her way through the trees and brush, being sure to watch out for any dead ends. She could hear the townspeople shouting in the distance. Alex kept running, all she wanted to do was lose them. 

"Alex!" shouted a familiar voice.

Waverly?

"Alex, come back," the detective turned to where Waverly's voice was coming from. Her mind was telling her to go the opposite way and keep running but her legs began to move towards the sound of Waverly's voice. Hale was quickly surrounded by the townspeople. she raised her hands over her head and took a deep breath.

"You were supposed to protect us!" Wynonna emerged from the crowd, wielding Peacemaker in Alex's face.

"What are you talking about?"

"You were supposed to go all werewolf and get us out of this mess, now we lost Doc and Jeremy. They trusted you, Lex. They thought you were going to save them and you let them just fucking die when you could have done something about it."

"Save them from what? I wouldn't-" Waverly appeared next to the older Earp. "Waverly..."

"We needed you Lex, why didn't you help?"

"I can, I can-I'll show you." Alex focused, hard-but she couldn't feel any change in her appearance. The townspeople began to shout, louder and louder until Hale couldn't hear herself think anymore. What the hell is wrong with her? What did she do? Why cant't she turn anymore?

"Make your peace, beefcake," Wynonna raised Peacemaker and aimed it between Alex's eyes. 

"Wynonna, Waverly...please. I'm sorry." Hale was practically begging at this point. Begging for mercy, begging for answers.

"So are we," Wynonna cocked the large gun...and pulled the trigger...

\-----  
Alex shot up from the bed, gasping for air. 

"Lex, what's wrong?" The brunette said visibly worried.

"Come outside with me."

"Wait what?"

"Just meet me outside, please. I'm gonna grab Jeremy."

"Okay, okay." Waverly threw off the covers and went downstairs to the backyard. Alex left out of her room and down the hall to where Jeremy was sleeping.

"Jeremy, get up."

"W-what time is it?"

"Too damn early but come on, were going outside for a minute."

"Oh my god you're gonna kill me aren't you? There's so much I haven't done yet..I've never been to Germany...or had a boyfriend.."

"Jeremy, I just saved your ass I'm not going to kill you, just get outside now."

Jeremy kept his eyes on Alex as he got out of bed and scurried to the backyard with Alex close behind. She made her way over to the brunette who was looking at her with much concern. Alex stepped closer to Waverly, taking both of the brunette's hands with her own.

"Do you trust me?" she looked deep into hazel eyes as if they had the answer she was looking for.

"Yes," Waverly held eye contact as her hands traveled up to Alex's face, tracing her thumbs over the detective's cheeks. Alex pressed her forehead against Waverly's, she took a deep breath and stepped back.

"Don't. Scream." she was only looking at Jeremy when she said this. All he could do was nervously nod in response. Alex put distance between her and the two and turned to face away from them. She focused on the pavement below her and let out a growl, her eyes began to glow a piercing blue. Hale dropped to one knee as her clothes began to tear from her body expanding with muscle. Her hands grew claws that dug into the hard cement while her face grew fur, fangs, and pointed ears. Alex slowly rose up, turning around towards the two and finally looking up at the moon before letting out a howl. Jeremy and Waverly looked on in amazement and disbelief. It all began to make sense now, the shack fire, the acute sense of hearing, and the rapid healing. 

Alex is a werewolf.

She slowly returned to her human form, her clothes torn from turning. Jeremy and Waverly were still staring at her with wide eyes and their jaws on the floor. Jeremy didn't scream, but he did faint. Waverly was able to catch him and slowly lower him to the ground. 

"Shit, I knew that would happen," Alex ran inside while putting on a new shirt and quickly returned with smelling salts. She cracked them open and shoved them under his nostrils, promptly waking him up.

"What just happened? Was that real?" Waverly and Alex helped him to his feet and headed back inside the house.

"It was definitely real," Alex sat down on the couch, crossing her arms while Waverly and Jeremy stood nervously on the opposite side of the sectional.

"You can't tell Wynonna, or Dolls...or Doc...or anyone, like at all."

"Then why tell us?" Jeremy asked.

"It was going to be hard to explain away what happened at the bar, and I trust you both."

"Why haven't you told Dolls then?"

"He hasn't had an encounter with anything supernatural yet, and if I spook him bad then he might try something stupid. Not even Nedley knows."

"So...do you uh...hunt?" Jeremy swallowed hard, afraid to even hear the answer to his question.

"You mean eat people? No dude, that's vampires. I don't hunt animals either, I just go to Whole Foods like everyone else."

"Oh thank god. I uh, I think I have to go lay down. I won't say a word Lex, promise."

"Thank you," Jeremy stumbled upstairs to his room, Waverly hadn't said a word and did not move from her seat on the couch. Alex finally looked over at her, scanning the brunette to try and get a read on her emotions before looking back down at the floor.

"I can take you home if you'd like, I understand if this is a lot to unpack."

"No, I feel safe here. I just didn't think that one day I would have a crush on a werewolf." Alex's ears perked up and she let out a short laugh.

"I meant what I said, I would never do anything to hurt you or Wynonna."

"I believed you when you said it then, and I still believe you now."

"So, what happens next?" Alex's voice was shaky. The idea of losing Waverly so soon shook her to her core and it seemed inevitable now after seeing Waverly's reaction to her transformation. Waverly could see what the detective was feeling and walked over to her. The brunette cupped both sides of Alex's face and kissed her gently. Hale melted into the brunette's touch, her shoulders easing from being so tense, an overwhelming sense of relief came over her.

"Let's get some sleep," Waverly smiled and grabbed the detective's hand, leading them back upstairs to Alex's bedroom. The two climbed into bed, with Waverly holding Alex. The detective wrapped her arm protectively across Waverly's torso before letting herself drift off to sleep as the brunette ran her fingers through jet black hair. 

\--------

When the detective woke up she was alone in her bed. She sat up, her body was still sore from the night before. Alex threw off the covers and decided that she was going to work out a little later that day when she was feeling better. Music was playing throughout the house at a dull roar, tipping her off that she wasn't alone in the home. Alex headed downstairs and found Waverly dancing in the kitchen, making breakfast while Jeremy sat at the breakfast bar bobbing his head to the music. Alex smiled, she was glad neither of her house guests left in a haste as a result of last night's events. 

"Good morning," Waverly handed Alex a mug of coffee, "I already fed Hero, and breakfast is about done, have a seat...I mean it." Hale obliged, she would have rather been the one to cook for her guests but she wasn't about to argue with Waverly. 

"Feeling better, Jeremy?" Alex took a sip from her mug.

"Yeah, actually. Look, I'm sorry about last night-" Jeremy began.

"Don't worry about it, I would have probably reacted the same way."

"Really?"

"No, but I can't blame you for reacting the way you did. You two are the only people I have told since I got bit."

"How long ago was that?"

"A little after my 21st birthday."

"How did it happen?" Waverly asked as she was sliding plates towards the two.

"That's uh-that's a very long story. In summary, I got into some bad shit and well it bit me in the ass, literally."

"You-you got bit in the ass?" Waverly was stifling her laughter.

"Upper ass but...yeah. Anyway that's all you're getting out of me for now."

"I'll take it," Jeremy shrugged. 

"I owe you guys the complete story, don't let me forget."

"I certainly won't," Waverly crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at Alex. The detective tried to avert her eyes and continue drinking her coffee but could feel the tiny brunette's hazel eyes piercing her from across the breakfast bar.

"Anyway, last night put a fire under my ass to stop this cult. I'm going to the station and pulling some files that might be helpful."

"You really should rest, Lex."

"I can't, I don't know what they're going to do next, or when they're going to try and come for one of us agai-" The ringing of Waverly's phone interrupted the detective.

"Hey Wynonna! What? What do you mean? Oh my god, stay right there we're coming-don't do anything stupid until we get there." Waverly pocketed her phone and scrambled upstairs.

"We have to go, Wynonna and the guys apparently have one of the cult members tied up in the barn."

"For fucks sake, alright everyone meet at my car in five."

\----------------

Hale whipped onto the Homestead property and pulled up close to the barn. Waverly jumped out of the car and ran into the barn. Hale followed close behind and saw a man tied up and bloodied. 

"Jesus Wynonna, I said not to do anything stupid!"

"I didn't! He just fell...into my fists...several times. Look-we got some pretty good bits of info from him but I wanted muscles over here to take a crack at him and see if he has anything she wants to know."

Waverly looked at Alex who simply walked towards the man and kicked his chair over.

"Waverly, do you still have that brooch?"

"It's in my bag, I'll be right back," Waverly ran out of the barn towards the Homestead.

"I want five minutes alone with him, now," everyone filed out quickly from the barn, leaving the detective and the man alone.

"The Wolfsbane was a nice touch."

"We've had eyes on you since Mark died. Our leader didn't want you figuring things out before he had a chance to marry Emelda."

"Mark who?"

"Evanston."

"Noted. Why just me? Wynonna has been on your trail for a while now."

"She gets distracted quite easily. You, you're too stubborn to quit even for a second."

"You're too kind. There was a woman at the site of the explosion, who was she?"

"Technically the leader's actual wife, Sharon."

"Sharon? Sharon Baker?" Alex lifted the man upright and stepped back, "she doesn't look anything like she used to."

"That's because of Emelda. Charles wanted to be with Emelda and Sharon at the same time, so she was the first one to be subjected to the ritual. She was almost the perfect vessel, almost. The hosting only lasted a few days before Sharon became incredibly ill. Charles was able to separate the two almost entirely."

"Almost?"

"There's a small piece of Emelda that still dwells within Sharon, it's the only reason she's still alive. If Emelda dies, Sharon will too."

"If Charles can separate Emelda from people then why have his followers commit suicide?"

"There's only two ways to separate her from a host, via spell or death. The separation spell leaves more and more of Emelda in her host each time so it is not the best route. Unfortunately, Charles only cares to keep Emelda and Sharon alive...we are just collateral damage," the man said in such a cavalier manner.

"What makes the perfect host?"

"That we're not too sure about, Emelda just picks someone and we just hope to receive her in all her glory."

"Alex..." Waverly entered the barn with the brooch in hand.

"Tell me something," Alex walked over to the brunette and gently took the brooch from her hand, "what is so important about this?" Alex held out the accessory in front of the man. He gasped, but did not respond to the detective.

"I guess it's not important..." Hale dropped the owl on the ground and hovered her foot over it. The man grew uneasy, "don't! That belongs to Emelda. It's a talisman."

"A talisman?"

"Yes, she is able to leave each vessel without vanishing because of the several talismans she has."

"There's more than one?" Alex began to lower her foot onto the brooch, prompting the man to try and break free from his restraints.

"Alex, maybe that's not a good idea..." Waverly warned.

"If this is keeping Emelda here and driving you guys to try and kill my friends off, I'm breaking this thing into as many pieces as I want."

"Please don't! If you destroy that then there's a strong chance that Sharon will die and all hell will break loose."

"The other talismans, where are they?" 

"Okay! Charles wears one around his neck. The other is a chalice that is used at every reception. All of the talismans have to be present at the ceremony for the reception to work."

"That explains why they've been hell bent on taking us out," Waverly muttered.

"I'm keeping this, and I'm keeping you here. As soon as we stop this, Charles is going away for good and the rest of you will get help, okay?"

"Just kill me."

"That's not happening. Look they need this and as long as I keep it from Charles then he can't keep sacrificing you all for Emelda right? Tell me where they are so I can stop this."

"I've already told you too much. The talisman will be retrieved by the neighborhood and Emelda will rise, but I will not be there to witness it." The man appeared to bite down on something, Hale ran over to the man but in those few seconds the man began to seize and foam at the mouth, choking on his own vomit.

"Fucking christ," Alex reached into her back pocket and pulled out a knife to cut the man free, holding his trembling body in her arms until he suddenly went limp. She placed two fingers on his neck, checking for a pulse but finding none. 

"Cyanide pill," she said while closing the man's eyes with her fingers. At that moment, Wynonna and the three men entered the barn to check on the detective.

"What the hell Hale do you know how hard it was to catch this guy running with a gut full of beer?" Wynonna yelled.

"Lex, what happened?" Dolls asked.

"Call a bus, at the very least they'll be able to declare him." Alex stood up and walked towards the front of the barn but was stopped by Waverly's hand on her chest.

"Hey," she forced the detective to make eye contact with her, "there was nothing you could have done." Waverly saw through the callous facade the detective had donned in that moment. She knew Alex wanted to help the man all the way up until he poisoned himself. Hale stared back at her with a blank expression but deep down she was frustrated with this case. The man didn't need to die, not like this.

"I can stop this," Hale continued out the barn doors, trying to ignore the footsteps behind her.

"Hey! Asshole!" Wynonna shouted from the barn doors, "you mean WE can stop this."

Alex looked up, at the front of the Homestead, she could hear wheels travelling on the gravel road. A black sedan came flying through the open front gate and up to the barn.

"Shit," Hale drew her gun. A man dressed in a white and gold robe exited the vehicle and slowly approached the barn with his hands raised.

"I just want the body."

"You can't have him."

"He didn't have any family, he's not from here. I just need to put him to rest, please...he was all I had."

"What's his name?"

"Luke. Charles has a scanner and I overheard the call for a man who died from cyanide poisoning. I had to see him, please, let us go."

"What's going to happen to you when you go back?"

"I'm not going back, Charles didn't even blink when he heard about Luke. Luke was so dedicated to him and Emelda, but I know Charles won't lose sleep tonight over us. Please, I love him."

"Tell us where Charles is."

"Charles and the neighborhood are in a cave not too far from the shack. He's driving himself and the others mad with trying to get that talisman back. Now I hope he never gets it."

Hale looked deep into the man's eyes, he looked broken. There was a slim chance that this was a set up. She took a step to the side, subtly inviting the man to enter the barn. He walked towards the door with the detective by his side. She held the door open for him as he rushed in, Alex turned to the others and held out her hand to ask for privacy. Wynonna was visibly annoyed but bit her tongue, she couldn't help but admire what the detective was doing for the man. The two emerged from the barn, the man was holding Luke and carried him over to his car. 

"Thank you." Hale simply nodded and watched as the man pulled away from the Homestead. 

"You're just going to let him go?" Wynonna asked.

"There's no use putting him away. He more than likely has a cyanide pill on his person too, he said he just wanted to say goodbye to his love." Wynonna was about to open her mouth but realized what the detective was getting at. 

"Earp, let's do some recon," Alex started towards her car. The older Earp turned to the others, "Dolls can you stay until we get back?"

"Of course."

"Perfect. Call us if anything happens." Wynonna jogged over to Hale's car and the two pulled out of the Homestead towards the shack.

"So what's the plan?"

"Let's see how close we can get to the cave and try to confirm the location of the other two talismans."

"You were serious about the recon part? You brought the big mouthed girl with the big gun on a recon mission?"

"If you want to stop this then we have to figure out the best plan of action, I'm not putting anyone in danger here."

"Why are you here in Purgatory?" Wynonna looked over at the detective, "it's very obvious that you're capable of being like a super spy or something, so why stay here in our quaint little hot mess of a town?"

"Let's just say I've been there, done that. Believe it or not, I've helped more people here than I have working with other PD's."

"Uh-huh. So I had Luke alone for a few minutes before the guys came back to make sure I wasn't ripping his tongue out. He mentioned that the bullets and arrows used at Shorty's were laced with Wolfsbane."

"Weird, are you allergic to them or something?" Hale kept her focus on the road. Wynonna clicked her tongue and walloped the detective in the left arm.

"OW-WYNONNA I'M DRIVING."

"Lift up your shirt."

"What?"

"Do it."

"You're not my type."

"I wasn't asking," Wynonna cocked Peacemaker and aimed it at Alex's head. "You try anything funny and I will send you to the rainbow bridge so fast."

Hale clenched her jaw and slowly lifted up her shirt, revealing her fading scar from the arrow that pierced her side.

"I knew it, I saw you drop like a dead fly before I ran after the neighborhood, now you're up and talking like nothing happened."

"Wynonna, I can explain..."

"I knew something was up when you stopped by Shorty's to meet. You didn't have half the scars you had at the hospital."

"Then why come with me to my home?"

"Nedley trusts you for a reason. I didn't sleep most of that night, I wanted to make sure you weren't going to hurt any of us, especially my sister..."

"I wouldn't. Ever. I meant it when I told you so at Shorty's."

"I figured that much. You're pretty solid, Hale. Even if you aren't who you say you are. Now's the time to come clean, what are you?"

"You've already figured that out..."

"Of course I did, I just want to hear you say it."

Hale pulled over near the mouth of the woods where the shack was. She looked over at Wynonna who still had Peacemaker aimed right at her temple, she clenched her jaw.

"I'm a werewolf."

"Great," Wynonna un-cocked her gun and lowered it from the detective's head. "My beef is with the revenants, as long as you're more like Teen Wolf than American Werewolf in London-we'll get along just fine."

"Good to know. So Dolls and Doc are still in the dark?"

"For now, I'll leave it to you to tell them."

"Thanks. I swear I got you, Earp."

"I was soo ready for you to just blow me off and say that you were a lesbian instead of a werewolf." Wynonna teased, attempting to deflect any shred of emotion in the detective's statement. Hale laughed for a few seconds before giving the older Earp a sideways look and finally stepping out of the car.

"Stay close, and no matter what happens, don't shoot." Wynonna reluctantly put Peacemaker back into her holster and followed the detective into the woods. They passed the shack and some time had passed before they reached the cave. Hale ducked behind a bush and was able to spot the chalice sitting on a small table next to Charles. He, playing a guitar in front of Sharon while the other members of the neighborhood were busy tending to the cave. Alex could see the third talisman around Charles' neck, she surveyed the rest of the area before motioning to Wynonna to start retreating. The two met back at the car and left to return to the Homestead.

"Now what?"

"We get a plan going. This ends tonight."

"I like how you think, she-hulk."

The two drove back to the Homestead, Doc was outside teaching Jeremy how to shoot. Dolls and Waverly decided to get in some last minute training in the barn. 

"Team Wynonna, huddle up in the living room!" Hale rolled her eyes at Wynonna but followed her into the house.

"Alright, we found the cave. The neighborhood will more than likely try to get the brooch tonight so we're going to get the jump on them and go to the cave, grab the talismans and destroy them. It has to be swift." Alex took a seat next to Waverly on the couch, the brunette looked at her with mild confusion.

"What about Sharon?" Waverly asked.

"She's already dead."

"You don't know that." Waverly stared at Hale, hoping she wasn't actually fine with letting this woman die. Hale was looking back at her, "you're right," she nodded, "we'll figure something out."

"Okay, so we go in and grab the talismans, I send eCharlie boy back to hell and we save the day! Right?" Wynonna was standing in the middle of the living room, trying to read the many faces looking back at her.

"Let's hope." Dolls muttered.

"On that note, Jeremy, let's continue target practice outside." Doc stood up and Jeremy followed him out the front door.

"Dolls? Want to spar?" Alex stood up, motioning to the front yard of the Homestead. 

"Hell yeah!" Dolls jumped up and followed the detective outside. Waverly was still sitting on the couch, with Wynonna standing over her.

"I know Alex is a werewolf."

"I figured you would find out sooner or later. I don't want to hear it."

"Hear what?"

"You telling me that dating a werewolf cop is stupid and dangerous."

"Hey, stupid was when you were dating Champ. Dangerous...maybe...only because I don't know anything about her-do you?"

"No, but I know she's a good person. She's a cop for goodness sake!"

"Look, I believe you. But I'd feel a lot better about her getting involved with us if we got to know her more. I want to know who my sister is dating."

"I do too." Waverly looked out the window at Hale and Dolls sparring. Dolls looked exhausted, while Alex barely had any dirt on her. She blocked a hook and cross from Dolls before putting him in a clinch and throwing him for the 10th time.

"So, Xavier is pretty handsome."

Wynonna raised an eyebrow at her sister's remark.

"Are you even allowed to say that now with your new...gay development?"

"I mean he's not as handsome as Alex. But I meant for you of course. I see the way he looks at you, Wynonna."

"It must not be the same look Alex gives you because I don't feel the sudden urge to vomit. Besides, Jeremy looks at me like that too."

"Jeremy looks at you like a lost puppy. But Dolls is like REALLY looking at you-wait...how does Alex look at me?"

"The same way Hero looks at his food."

"You're joking."

"I am." Wynonna burst out laughing while Waverly gave her a swift punch to the arm.

"Jesus Wynonna. I think you should talk to him."

"Eventually, but not right now. I have a cult leader slash revenant to send back to hell."  
Wynonna looked outside at the officer, who was bent over, gasping for air as Hale handed him a water bottle and laid a friendly hand on his back.

"The way Alex looks at you, makes me inclined to believe what she said about not hurting us." Wynonna looked down, knowing that Waverly was smiling at the thought of Wynonna warming up to Alex.

"I feel safe with her, even before I found out she was a werewolf."

"I would too-she's ripped! It's like putting nitro in a super car-that's just pure overkill."

Waverly laughed as she watched Alex get thrown by Dolls for a change. His victory was short lived as Alex shot for his legs, pinning him to the ground. The sun was beginning to set and the group reconvened in the living room once more. 

"Let's roll!" Wynonna ran out to her blue truck with Waverly and Dolls trailing behind. The rest of the group followed Alex to her car.

"I'm glad I'm going into this not being totally useless thanks to Doc's quick shooting tips!" Jeremy flashed a grin from the back seat with pride. Hale looked over at Doc who simply smiled and shrugged.

"Let's hope you don't have to put your new skill to use tonight," Alex kept her eyes forward, she could hear the loud humming of the old blue truck behind her...and Wynonna's singing?

"So...what's Doc's story?" Dolls asked. Waverly looked over at Wynonna and raised both her eyebrows with a smirk. Wynonna sucked in a breath, "he's a family friend! We go way back...wayyyyy back."

"Since you were a kid or?"

"Little before that, like...over a century..."

"WHAT."

"Use your inside voice, Dolls."

"I don't know why I'm surprised especially after learning about this revenant and demon stuff."

"Yeah...we'll work on that! Nedley wants to debrief that stuff with you."

"Is that what he did with Alex?"

"Pretty much, I assume she's been bringing you around so that you could get in on the action."

"Haha...makes sense." Dolls blushed, he figured she was doing that to get him an in with Wynonna.

"Here we are," Wynonna pulled over to the side of the road behind Hale's car. The older Earp took a deep breath and collected her thoughts.

"Let's do this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit is about to go down in the next chapter lemme tell ya lol. Fair warning, this is the second to last chapter for this "case" I guess. I'm so pumped to start up the next one it's going to be hella fun (this was also super fun to write don't get me wrong agdjsl)
> 
> Also Charles? Sharon? Cult? I hate me.  
> Despite Wynonna find out about Alex-im going to make sure that bromance stays STRIVING and THRIVING.


	5. New Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! The gang is en route to get all the talismans and send Charles on his merry way to hell...well..that's the plan for now of course. It's a rough night for the gang. We also finally get to learn more about Alex!

"Stay close and stay sharp, we're not losing anyone tonight," Alex cocked her pistol.

"If shit hits the fan, leave Alex and I to deal with it and just try to grab as many of the neighborhood as you can, okay?" Doc and Jeremy nodded in agreement, but Waverly and Dolls were reluctant to even react to Wynonna's statement. Waverly was completely capable and willing to provide support to the group and Dolls was sure as hell not about to leave his partner and Wynonna in the middle of a fight. The group begins to follow Wynonna and Hale into the woods. They pass by the remains of the shack and Jeremy shudders, stumbling for a bit from feeling overwhelmed with fear and despair.

"You're okay," Dolls puts a reassuring arm around the man's shoulders, "we're here now, I got your back, Jeremy-WE got your back." Dolls waved his arm at the group, making Jeremy feel more at ease. It wasn't long until the group made it to the cave, they could see the six remaining members of the neighborhood sitting in a half circle in front of Charles and Sharon.

"This is the last night I'm giving you to get that talisman before I completely purge this family." Charles snarled. "Emelda and I don't ask much of you all and when we do-no one can get it right. It's no wonder she hasn't found a suitable vessel among any of you." Sharon was sitting at his right hand side, emotionless. She looked considerably worse since Alex last seen her. Her body was only running on the spirit of the demon that was inside of her at this point.

"It's now or never, they're going to gear up soon and we'll be outgunned." Hale nodded to Wynonna who began to stand up and walk out of the cover of the woods.

"Your pep talk sucked, Charlie," Wynonna aimed Peacemaker at the cult leader. The long barrel glowed orange and Charlie's eyes began to blacken. Alex approached the cave with her gun drawn, the wind around the cave began to pick up dramatically.

"Ah, you've brought the third anchor," Charles' voice was significantly deeper, "I knew the heir was a stupid bitch, but not this stupid."

"Watch your fucking mouth, I've meaning to see what this ugly owl thing looks like when I blast it into a million pieces."

"No need, we'll take it from here," Charles quickly disappears into the cave and the remaining members emerge with guns and arrows. Alex tackles Wynonna behind a large rock and starts returning fire. Dolls and Doc drew their guns and began to shoot at the neighborhood. Half the neighborhood was wounded and being dragged back into the cave by the remaining members - but were quickly thrown out in front of the cave by an unknown force. Charles appeared from the cave, his eyes were completely red and there was a sinister black smoke surrounding him.

"We have become one thanks to you, Earp," a female voice came from the Charles. Everyone quickly realized that Charles and Emelda must have been able to bind themselves with the third talisman within their radius.

"We will eliminate the heir and retrieve the talisman for good. We have no use for our followers, they are nothing more than a disappointment." The neighborhood backed away slowly as the body of Charles raised his arm. A shadow shoots out towards one of the members and begins to choke them so severely that they were decapitated within seconds. The rest of the members began to run past the group and into the woods.

"Okay new plan: Dolls, Jeremy-get them the fuck out of here."

"I'm not leaving, Lex!"

"I'm not asking Dolls-that's a direct order," Hale barked.

"What about Waverly and Doc?"

"My baby sis is too damn stubborn to back down and we need Doc's fast fingers-now go, I owe you a drink..or two..or four!"

Dolls reluctantly stood up as Hale and Wynonna tossed him their car keys. He grabs Jeremy's arm and pulls him back into the woods and after the fleeing cult members.

"I'm gonna get you a clear shot at him, don't fuck it up, Earp." Alex quickly changes her form. She hurdles over the large rock and lands on her feet in front of the demon in her werewolf form. Charles pulls the large rock Wynonna was still hiding behind and launches it at the detective. She is able to dodge it in time and lunge at Charles, tackling him to the ground. She tries to reach for the talisman around his neck but he quickly swipes her hand away. Charles bucks under her body and is able to throw her off. She quickly turns around and charges the man before he is able to raise a finger. Alex begins to rain down punches on Charles, knowing that if he gets a few seconds free that he can use his newly acquired demonic powers on her or the others. She tried to bring him in a tight clinch but is kicked away. Charles reaches out his hand as a blade shoots out of the cave and into his grasp. Alex wastes no time trying to get close to the demon and is able to knock the knife out of his hand. She continues to throw punch after punch, only landing a few on the oddly agile revenant.

"Enough of this," Charles steps out of Hale's way as arrows shoot out of the cave, piercing her in both arms and dropping her to her knees. A powerful roar erupted from the detective, so much so that it shook the trees around the cave.

"Fuck..fuckfucfuck," Wynonna raised Peacemaker and tried to aim for the revenant but there was a large cloud of black smoke covering him as a shadow slithered to Alex and wrapped itself around her, holding her in place.

"Wynonna what are you doing?" Waverly sounded incredibly frantic.

"I'm trying to get a clear shot at that asshole since Lex is a bit tied up at the moment."

Alex struggled, hard, but the shadow was quite strong and she was definitely weakened by the arrows that were jutting out of her arms. The cloud of black smoke moved closer to her until it was right in front of her face. She could see Charles' red eyes glaring at her through the smoke. He grinned, brandishing a knife and finally laying it's edge on her collar bone.

"Deep down, you're just like me," the revenant laughed, "your dreams will never cease until you become what you're meant to be, a monster." Charles dragged the knife from Alex's collarbone, across her chest and down her side. Everything began to slow down for Hale, her vision was getting blurry. She found herself on all fours, struggling to stand up and keep fighting. Charles grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground. She held onto his arm with both hands and squeezed to try and break his grasp.

"Wynonna..." she strained, "Earp take the shot."

"Shit shit shit," Wynonna cocked Peacemaker, trying to focus her sights on the revenant.

"Wynonna don't!" Waverly begged.

"Waverly there is a beefy ladycop slash werewolf yelling at me to take the shot-I'm gonna take the shot!"

"Earp...take the fucking shot," everything was beginning to fade to black for Alex. Wynonna pulled the trigger and was able to shoot Charles in the shoulder and in the arm that was holding Alex. He dropped the detective, leaving him wide open for Wynonna to continue shooting at him until he was brought to his knees. She approached the wounded revenant, aiming the glowing barrel right between his eyes.

"See you in hell," she pulled the trigger and a shadow darted out of Charles as he was being swallowed by the fiery pit below. Wynonna watched as the shadow flew towards the cave and into Sharon's mouth.

"Don't shoot, I won't hurt you...not anymore," Sharon was fighting Emelda's urges to take control as she grabbed a can of kerosene and poured it over herself. She held onto the talismans with one hand as the other pulled out a lighter from her pocket. She locked eyes with the heir as she flicked the lighter and was instantly engulfed in flames. Everyone looked on in horror as the fire raged for a minute before finally dying down, leaving only a pile of ashes behind. Doc ran to inspect the burn site as Wynonna stumbled over to Waverly who was holding a barely conscious Alex. The detective came to and her eyes glowed blue as she began hyperventilating while she reached for the arrow in her left arm.

"Hey, beefcake-hey!" Wynonna was kneeling next to Alex, placing her hand on the detective's arm trying to distract her, "Look at me, we did it! I didn't fuck up-you're still here! Shit-Waverly do something gay she's not calming down." Wynonna looked at her sister and then back at Alex who started to turn back into a werewolf. 

"Alex, baby-hey," Waverly positioned herself so that Alex was sitting between her legs. Hale struggled but was too weak to put up a fight even for the tiny brunette. Waverly wrapped her arms around Alex, feeling guilty that she was probably hurting her with the new wound Charles gave her. 

"Breathe with me, Alex," Waverly began to take deep breaths against Hale's trembling body. The brunette squeezed Alex a little tighter and felt a strong hand grip hers.

"Good-breathe with me, baby-you're doing good," Waverly could feel Alex's breathing begin to slow down. Hale was back in her human form with the exception of her glowing eyes. She closed her eyes and focused on the brunette's slow breathing until she was in sync with Waverly. Alex took a moment to appreciate how Waverly's touch was slowing her heart down instead of making it race like it usually does. 

"Thank you," Hale rasped. She pulled away from the brunette and pulled out both arrows in either of her arms. Alex looked up at the older Earp who still had a look of worry on her face, "you're a pretty good shot, Earp." Wynonna let out a sigh of relief and reached down to help Doc and Waverly bring the detective to her feet. The four made their way out of the woods to where the cars were parked. Jeremy was leaning against Hale's car waiting for them.

"Dolls said I was bad at commanding a room so he sent me back to get you guys," Jeremy let out a nervous laugh, "anyway, I think he's going to have his hands a little full with the neighborhood. Wait, where's Sharon?"

"Dead, like actually dead-she took Emelda down with her." Wynonna frowned. Jeremy immediately looked down, embarrassed for not somehow figuring that out without having to ask. 

"Here, I'll drive," Waverly held her hand out for the keys and unlocked the car for everyone. Jeremy tried to help Doc and Wynonna load Alex into the back seat as Waverly got into the driver's side.

"Shotgun!" Wynonna hopped into the passenger seat and began fiddling with the sound system to find the right victory song-she settled on blasting AC/DC for the rest of the ride to Alex's home. 

\----------------

"Please tell me I have peroxide somewhere," Alex groaned from the master bathroom.

"You do, but if you keep whining I might just use the alcohol instead." The detective grunted and tried crossing her arms but was painfully reminded that she couldn't do so. Waverly came into the bathroom with a first aid kit.

"We gotta take your shirt off."

"I know."

"I'll wait."

"Me too."

"Alex!"

"Okay, okay," Alex feebly held her arms up as Waverly pulled up on the hem of her shirt until it was over her head. Naturally, Alex tried to cover her chest again.

"Ow-motherfucker!"

"You really should stop doing that until it heals," Waverly placed a peroxide-soaked rag on the detective's collar bone, dabbing at the large wound across her body.

"His blade was covered in Wolfsbane-this is going to take forever to heal."

"Which is why you're going to have to take it easy and stop trying to be the hero for once. You got a whole mess of people that have your back-so let them take care of you, Alex."

Hale winced at the pain from her wound...and the painful truth Waverly just laid on her.

"I lost control a bit-I just didn't want anyone getting hurt...or worse."

"I know, but look what happened to you."

"I can heal fast."

"Not this time."

"You're right-OW!"

"Done, just gotta put on the bandage," Alex looked up at Waverly like she was her saving grace. How did she get so lucky? How could someone like Waverly see someone like Alex and stick around even after learning that she was practically a monster?

A monster.

Charles' words were echoing loudly in her head-she shuddered so hard it startled Waverly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing..."

"Lex..."

"...I keep having these dreams."

"Hmm?"

"It's the same one, I'm running away from a bunch of townspeople until I get cornered or escape. But they're always yelling at me, telling me that I'm a monster and they shouldn't have trusted me."

"Is that why you woke up the other night?"

"Yes."

Waverly continued to bandage Alex's wound, "you're not a monster. You're a good person, Lex-and a great cop!"

"I'm glad you think so."

"I KNOW so-everyone does!"

"Not everyone."

"Right, Dolls is the only one left out-when are you going to tell him?"

"I have no idea."

"You'll figure it out," Waverly had finished bandaging Alex's wound and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Hale! How do you turn on your-NEVER MIND DOC FIGURED IT OUT WE'RE MAKING SMORES NOW," Wynonna called out from downstairs.

"A bonfire? Now?" Alex groaned.

"C'mon, let's go downstairs and relax a bit-we deserve it."

"When does a cop ever get to relax?"

"When I say so."

"Ugh," Alex clambered out the bathroom and down the stairs to the backyard with Waverly. Wynonna, Doc ,and Jeremy had settled around the fire pit next to the pool. Wynonna was trying to launch marshmallows into Jeremy's mouth from across the fire pit. Doc was periodically trying to intercept the flying marshmallows so he could roast one for himself.

"So She-Ra, care to fill us in on your little secret?"

"Didn't you guys see me turn into a big ass werewolf not too long ago?"

"Yes but everyone has an origin story-so what's yours? Besides, Brainiac over here mentioned you owe us a story anyway," Wynonna motioned to Jeremy who was equal parts offended and flattered.

Hale rolled her eyes and stared into the fire. "Hey," Waverly cooed while rubbing her hand on Alex's thigh, "you don't have to tell us if you don't want to." Hale was caught off guard by this, Waverly had seemed pretty insistent about learning more of Alex's background for a while now. The detective turned back to the fire and took a deep breath.

"I was born on the west coast, my dad was a marine and my mom was going to school to become a veterinarian. When I was about one, my mom left my dad because he was an abuser. We moved cross country and things were fine for a bit. Mom couldn't shake her drug habit and I was taken away at the age of 8 and put into the foster system."

"Shit man," Wynonna said with a mouthful of marshmallows, Doc was trying to reach into the bag while he kept his attention on Alex.

"It wasn't all bad, some families were better than others, you can tell when a foster parent was only doing it for the money," Hale chuckled, but realized the tone was too somber for laughter.

"Anyway, I got adopted at some point. The parents already had a biological son and daughter, they were well off...and strict. Church every Sunday and a chore list that was long enough to keep me busy on the weekends. School was rough, kids were realizing I was a lesbian even before I figured that out for myself. The parents were harping on me because people from church began to talk to them about me being a lesbian. Things were fine for a while until I turned 16. I had my best friend over, things led to another and the mom walked in on us kissing. Needless to say, I got kicked out on the spot."

"Oh Alex," Waverly whispered softly.

I spent some time on the streets until I realized that I needed structure in my life-so naturally I lied about my age and enrolled in the military. It wasn't long until I was outranking a lot of my male counterparts. They weren't huge fans of having to take orders from a girl-so somebody dug up some dirt on me and they figured out I lied about my age-luckily I was honorably discharged."

"Did you ever see combat?" Jeremy asked.

"Nope, but I learned a lot including combat skills. Anyway, at that point I was finally 18 but I had no idea what to do, so I looked into law enforcement and picked up a temporary job during the recruitment process..."

"What was the job? Some mercenary gig?" Wynonna chimed in sarcastically.

"Haha...kind of..."

"YOU WERE A CONTRACT KILLER?" 

"Not exactly, more like an enforcer. But it was a short gig since the big city took an interest in me as a police recruit. They started me at the university in the heart of the city, I wasn't popular among some of the other recruits, but I was the only one who actually wanted to work with domestic violence and sexual assault victims so I had a bit of job security."

"And then what happened?" Doc asked.

"I kept getting harassed, so I asked for a transfer. I got moved to another precinct in the city over and that was when I got bit."

"on the job?"

"Not the cop job."

"huh?"

"The guy I worked under as an enforcer tracked me down and 'asked' me to help out with a case, things went south on the job and I made a run for it into the woods nearby. I kept running until I felt myself get tackled and teeth were sinking into my backside. I was able to fight off whatever it was and I just kept going. I didn't realize what happened to me until the first full moon days later. I happened to be on another job when I started turning in front of the mark. My boss wanted to know how I was able to get the authorities to write it off as a bear attack."

"Fucking hell," Wynonna muttered.

"Yeah, I was out of control for a few months. The contractor loved working with me, and I had what seemed like an insatiable blood lust...until I finally said I quit-he threatened to out me to my department and well, he was the last person I killed before finally getting my shit together and moving here to Purgatory."

"So, how many people did you kill?" asked Waverly.

"Nine, including the contractor. I left that city and never looked back-I stumbled upon purgatory and decided to look into joining the PD. Nedley interviewed me and was the first one to ever ask about my story instead of just asking about my skills. I think the lack of a father figure really touched him, it's the only time I've ever seen him cry."

"Nedley cried? Good god Hale," Wynonna teased.

"Right? Anyway he took me in and I've been here ever since."

"How do we know that you haven't killed anyone here in Purgatory?"

"I've been trying to make up for it, if I'm not at the station-I'm working out. And if I'm not working out-I'm doing some form of philanthropy. You've been hunting bad guys for some time right? You would have figured it out if I was up to no good, when's the last time a body turned up that looked like an animal attack?"

"I...can't say I recall one..." Wynonna shot Hale a look of suspicion.

"I don't do that anymore. I'm not completely sure of who I am, but I know I'm not a killer."

"You're also really fucking young to have done so much fucked up shit," Wynonna yelled as she flailed her arms in disbelief.

"I know, I've been going to therapy since I moved here. It's helped a lot with the night terrors. and fixed some of my fucked up emotional trauma and all that jazz," Hale realized that making jazz hands for emphasis was a poor choice and she nervously cleared her throat.

"So you're still like a baby werewolf since it's only been two years since you got bit?"

"Yeah, it's been hard to navigate since the person who bit me didn't exactly give me a tutorial before running off into the night. I learned most of what I know from just trying to function as a werewolf in addition to trolling the internet...and binge-watching Teen Wolf every other month..."

"And you've been able to control your...urges?" Jeremy caught himself leaning in to the conversation and quickly sat back in his chair trying to play it cool.

"Yes? I have a panic room that I'll sometimes use if it gets bad...but it hasn't for a while now. Usually I just focus on things that ground me."

"Like what happened at the cave?"

"Oh uh-yeah I guess so! Man this fire is getting huge," Alex said, trying to cover up the fact that she was blushing uncontrollably. 

"You have got quite the story, Officer."

"Thanks, Doc-I made it myself. Now that you all know pretty much everything about me, can we sleep now?"

"You read my mind! Goodnight Doc and Jeremy!" Wynonna waved to the two men who begrudgingly stood up and walked into the house. Alex slowly got up from her seat next to Waverly and positioned herself on the farther side of the fire between the two women. She raised her hands over her head as Wynonna pulled out Peacemaker and aimed it at her head. Hero emerged from the trees behind Alex, snarling at the older Earp.

"Hero it's fine," Alex told the wolf, "everything's going to be fine." Hero stopped snarling and laid next to her feet.

"Do you feel bad for what you did?"

"For the most part, they were bad people, Wynonna. I'm not a killer, not anymore."

"That was only two years ago so what good is your word? I need to look out for this group of misfits, especially my sister."

"I have an eternity to make up for it and I've been doing everything I can to get as far away from that version of myself. It was a big mistake-but it's my mistake and I'm doing something about it." Hale swallowed hard. 

"Wynonna what the fuck!" Waverly put herself between her sister and the detective, shielding Alex's large muscular frame with her short, petite body.

"Waverly move I got this."

"You got shit, sis-why are you the only one allowed to kill people? Alex didn't have much of a choice and you think killing her is going to make things right? She's trying to change, Wynonna. She's trying to right her wrongs the same way you are."

"I don't want her hurting you. I need you here, I need you safe."

"I am safe, I am here! Thanks to the both of you! Alex made a promise to the both of us that she wouldn't hurt us and she hasn't. She almost fucking died for you like two hours ago."

"Waverly it's okay."

"No Lex, it's not okay. My sister doesn't get to judge other people for the shit they've done and she sure as hell doesn't get to kill you over some shit that happened in the past."

"Waverly, if your sister thinks you're going to be a lot safer without me around then maybe she's got a point."

"W-what?" Waverly was dumbfounded by the what the detective had just said. Alex began to gently push Waverly to the side so that she was only in Wynonna's sights.

"Wynonna, If you're gonna shoot me, do it now-and aim for the head. I'm fine with this, if this is my fate then I accept it."

"Wynonna don't you dare," warned the younger Earp sister.

The older Earp cocked her gun, Alex didn't flinch.

"So they were bad people?"

"Yes."

"I guess it's not any different than what I'm doing, huh?"

"You're killing demons for the greater good, I was doing it for a check. I didn't have anyone that gave enough of a shit about what I did to tell me to stop, so I became that person for me. I fucked up, Wynonna, I know I fucked up."

Wynonna looked down the barrel at Alex, trying to think of one good reason to pull the trigger but couldn't find one. Alex has been kind to her and her sister since day one, and she just about put her life on the line for Wynonna only hours ago. Waverly was right, killing Alex wasn't going to suddenly restore balance to the universe, and it certainly wasn't going to make her feel better-especially since she knew how strongly Waverly felt about Alex.

"I think you're a good person, Hale. You could have let me get ripped to shreds by the super demon cult leader but you didn't. You fought him like an idiot and gave me the assist of a lifetime. I'm not going to kill you," Wynonna lowered her gun and tossed it onto her seat, "I'm hoping I never have to." Alex lowered her hands and began to walk towards Wynonna until they were face to face, eye to eye. Alex finally grabbed Wynonna and pulled her into a tight hug. 

"You're not going to regret this, I got you, Earp-and you've got me." Wynonna returned the gesture and patted the detective's back. 

"I believe you...now get the fuck off of me," Wynonna laughed. The two let go and were awkwardly avoiding eye contact with one another. Affection wasn't either of their strong suits and it showed. Waverly smiled at the heartfelt interaction and let out a huge sigh of relief. She was slightly annoyed with Alex stupidly inviting her trigger-happy sister to shoot her, but she was glad to see both women she cared about had come to an understanding. 

"Alright, that's enough drama for one night, I'm going to bed. I'm uh-I'm glad I didn't shoot you, goodnight," Wynonna walked inside and up the stairs to the guest bedrooms. 

"That's as close to an apology you're gonna get from her," Waverly said, crossing her arms, "I can't believe you were going to let her kill you."

"If she genuinely believed that I'md going to hurt you then yeah-I wanted her to kill me."

"Alex..." Waverly crooned to the detective as she reached both hands behind her neck, pulling her closer to the brunette. Alex grounded herself against Waverly's touch as she felt her rapid heart rate begin to slow.

"I know you're not going to hurt me."

"How?"

"I've always had a good feeling about you-and everything we've been through so far has only confirmed my suspicions about you."

"Suspicions, huh?" Alex wrapped her arms around the brunette's waist and pulled her in for a kiss, "like what?"

"like...oh my god Alex your chest is bleeding."

"Really? Shit, I got blood on you."

"Let's go patch you up again," Waverly took Alex's hand and led her up to the master bath. It only took a few minutes for Waverly to re-dress the wound. 

"There, I should shower. I'll be out in a few minutes." Waverly turned on the water to the shower as Alex walked over to lay on the bed. Her mind was still racing from tonight. This was the first time she ever dealt with a revenant. Were all of them this powerful? Is she actually going to be able to be an asset to Wynonna's cause or did she just get lucky tonight? Hale shook her head and began to think about Sharon Baker and how she sacrificed herself to take down Emelda. She made a mental note to talk to Nedley about what happened the next time she was at the station. Her thoughts were interrupted when Waverly entered the room in nothing but a bath towel. She sauntered over to Alex's dresser and pulled out a crew neck sweater and a pair of boxers and placed them on top of the dresser. The brunette grabbed the boxers and put them on under her towel. She looked at Alex, blushing slightly.

"I figured I'd go topless for the sake of solidarity since you kind of had to while I dressed your wound."

"Waves, you don't have to..."

"Is it okay if I do?"

Alex could instantly feel her cheeks getting red, "I mean yeah if it's okay with you I-" Waverly dropped her towel and grabbed the sweater, pulling it over her body as she walked towards the bed. The detective had caught a glimpse of Waverly's chest and was doing her best to be coy as the brunette crawled into bed with her. The two settled in, Waverly turned over to lay her head on Alex's chest but quickly remembered the wound and pulled away.

"It's okay," Alex whispered as she wrapped one arm around her. Waverly eased her head onto the detective's chest and closed her eyes as she listened to Alex's heartbeat. Hale was wincing from the pain, but it was worth it especially after tonight. There was nothing else that she wanted to do in that moment than to just hold Waverly. They both drifted off to sleep, feeling safe in each other's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's quite a bit to unpack with this chapter..
> 
> This was the first time Alex ever had to deal with anything supernatural. It's also the first time she's told her complete story to anybody..ever. Alex is also kind of vulnerable for a good chunk of this chapter! I'll add any notes that I can think of later. 
> 
> So this concludes this particular "case". I'll be starting the next part and posting it probably by the time the weekend rolls around. Thanks so much for reading up to this point!
> 
> Also: here's a playlist I was listening to for quite some time while writing this first part!
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1w4LsvrHiQRd6lvnypWMnF


	6. More of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About two months after dealing with Charles and the Neighborhood, the gang gets a rude awakening when their dreams turn into nightmares.

"Alright time to party," Wynonna stepped out of the town car and was surprised to find herself standing in front of a jazz club- a stark contrast to the strip clubs that her and the gang usually went to.

"Huh, I wonder why Dolls invited me here?" Wynonna went through the lavish double doors and stood at the top of the stairs-looking at the scene in front of her. People were dancing, drinking, laughing-but no one was groping the bartenders...no one was starting any fights. Everyone was dressed up as well, Wynonna felt slightly embarrassed as she realized that she was probably under-dressed for the occasion.

_Give me some of that sugar, baby_

_Give me some of that sugar_

_I don't want your wine or liquor baby, sugar makes me feel better..._

Wynonna turned to the live band on the stage and realized that Waverly was singing and...Alex was playing bass?

She approached the stage and caught Alex's attention while Waverly kept singing.

_Oh, won't you stay awhile..._

"Dude what the hell is this?"

"It's your dream, Wynonna-I'm just here for the ride. I do thank you for putting me in this tux and not a dress-Waverly couldn't keep her hands off me before our set started," Alex winked

"Ew thanks for that-any idea where Dolls is?"

"No idea, this is his party after all."

"What's the party for?"

"He does this every other Friday..."

"Oh wow-wait a minute why am I just finding this out?"

"Hey, I'm just with the band dude."

"Fine.."

"Look alive, Dolls requested this next song-have fun!"

"Oh for fucks sake."

The guitarist began to open the song and Alex leaned into her microphone, looking over at Waverly as she sang.

_So it goes without saying,_

_That I"m hooked on you._

_And by now I'm outta my mind_

_With this self abuse..._

a crowd gathered around the dance floor as dolls approached the older Earp. He was wearing an all black tux, he sure knew to clean up well. 

"Wanna dance?"

"With an audience? Ah, fuck it," Wynonna took the officer's hand and began to sway with him to the music. She tried to focus on the rhythm, forgetting that there were a lot of eyes on her and Dolls.

_Every little thing that you do_

_Every single word you say_

_Every time you're looking away_

_You got me begging for more of you..._

_more of you..._

"So, you do this every other Friday?" Wynonna raised an eyebrow at Dolls.

"I uh-I figured you didn't want to go to a boring jazz club instead of Pussywillows..."

"It's a nice change, that's for sure," Wynonna laughed, she felt herself become more at ease, the crowd had dissipated as more people got on the dance floor. She pulled herself closer to Dolls, laying her head on his shoulder as they continued to slow dance among the party goers.

_When I see you I know_

_That I'm tempting fate_

_I guess that I should move on with my life_

_Cause the state that I'm in,_

_is just not right..._

"May I cut in?" a familiar voice asked, Wynonna looked up and saw Doc in tux with his signature stetson. He was beaming at the heir, she felt herself blush. 

"Go for it," Dolls spun Wynonna towards Doc, she had to grab onto the gunslinger's shoulders to catch herself before she lost her balance.

_Something gets a hold of my soul_

_and I'll be begging for more of you..._

_more of you..._

"You look nice, cowboy," Wynonna winked at Doc.

"You are as beautiful as always," Doc looked into Wynonna's eyes-usually, the centenarian cowboy was so subtle about his feelings towards Wynonna that she was taken aback by his sudden forwardness. Why the hell did Dolls let her dance with Doc without a fight? Dolls still liked her...right? What was even going on with these men? 

The song had ended and everyone turned around to applaud the live music.

"Thank you! I'm going to give the spotlight back to our beautiful front-woman, Miss Waverly Earp!" Alex spoke into the mic, "we're gonna pick things up now, let's groove!" Alex started playing a funky bass line, everyone in the room caught the rhythm and began to dance to the thumping bass guitar.

_All your love_

_I love your love_

_All of your lovin'_

_I surrender..._

Wynonna was surprised to find Doc actually keeping a beat as he pulled Wynonna close to him. She let herself get lost in the music for a bit until she felt someone behind her, she turned her head to the side to find Dolls dancing behind her while Doc was still dancing with her. The men didn't speak to one another, they just kept their focus on Wynonna and the music. She eased back in to the groove of things, this definitely was a dream...but she wasn't complaining.

The older Earp could hear the crowd begin to shout and scream. The men stopped dancing and turned to the front of the club. Wynonna took a second to snap back into the reality of what was happening around her. The band kept playing as some familiar faces descended the stairs and people ran out the front doors. Wynonna squinted at the men that were making their way towards her....was that...Perry Croft?

"Hello Wynonna,"

"Perry, I didn't think I'd ever run into you again...mostly because I make it a point to avoid you..."

"And here I thought we had something special."

"We did, until you tried to get that same something with Mercedes at her Halloween party."

"Guilty," the man laughed as he threw both hands up. Wynonna looked at the other men standing behind him and quickly realized that the entire group was composed of men that she had dated/hooked up with.

"I never got the memo that this was a reunion from hell, Dolls."

"I had no idea they were coming, I swear. "

"You always said you had a thing for spontaneity," Perry sneered.

"Yeah like surprise road trips and whipped cream...not a surprise convention dedicated to my poor choice in men!"

"We just want to party," Perry's voice was deep. One of the exes had hopped over the bar and began smashing bottles and turning on all the taps. The other men quickly moved through the dance floor and started throwing party goers left and right.

"Shit, why me..why now..why demon ex-flings of all things to ruin this dream?" Wynonna realized that the music was still going.

_It's heavy_

_heavy how i want you so bad_

_heavy when it hits me so fast_

_heavy and it's driving me mad_

_that I'm never gonna give you up..._

"HEY! WAVERLY AND THE FUNKY BUNCH-A LITTLE HELP?"

"You gotta will us some weapons man, you're the one who's keeping us in band mode," Alex's fingers kept strumming on the bass guitar.

"Of course," Wynonna was startled by the crashing of a liquor bottle being thrown towards her. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and opened them to find Alex and Waverly behind her, the brunette was armed to the teeth with her favorite bo staff in hand while Alex had turned into her werewolf form. 

"That's better," Wynonna pulled Peacemaker out of her boot and started picking off every one of the revenant exes she could find. Dolls and Doc were fighting some of the exes in the middle of a crowd that was egging on the violence. Wynonna tried to make her way over to help but was stopped by four of the party crashers. 

"Let's dance, Wynonna."

"No way, I'm not a fan of trains," Wynonna hissed. Alex had tackled two of the men to the ground while Waverly shot one, giving Wynonna the chance to take one out with Peacemaker. The three women stood together, each facing a different direction watching as the chaos in the club raged on.

"This is a nightmare," Wynonna groaned.

"Funny how some of the shit you do comes back to bite you huh, sis?"

"I am so glad I'm gay," Hale laughed. 

"Shut up and help me figure out how to get rid of these demon men!" Wynonna fired Peacemaker at a revenant that lunged at her, "sorry Shaun! At least you were a decent lay!"

"I'm guessing they didn't come here to try and talk things out...you gotta go."

"Bass-playing-beefcake say what?" 

"They're here for you, if you run and hide then they'll probably leave. Go, we got this-keep us posted on where you end up so we can rendezvous."

"You're not serious..."

"EARP I SWEAR I WILL TOSS YOU OUT THOSE DOORS MYSELF-START RUNNING."

"Fine jesus you would think I would have made you less bossy in my own dream." Wynonna ducked as she ran up the stairs and out the front doors. Dolls was leaning against a black SUV, tossing the keys in the air every now and then.

"You didn't think we were gonna make you run did you, Earp?"

"Oh thank fuck-" Wynonna panted, "I'm already feeling those stairs, who had the bright idea to make me do cardio in my own dream?" Wynonna threw open the passenger door and Dolls slid into the driver's seat and pressed the gas pedal to the floor. Behind them, a van of revenant exes were gaining on them.

"Time for a detour," Dolls swerved the large vehicle into a tiny side street, weaving through alleys to try and lose the van. It was a few minutes before the van disappeared. Dolls drove for a bit longer before pulling over in a dark alley to figure out what to do next.

"Okay, here's the plan-" a bullet ripped through the driver's side and into Doll's skull. The officer slumped in his seat, bleeding profusely.

"FUCKING CHRIST-DOLLS!" Wynonna ducked, pulling the man's head towards her trying to stop the bleeding. She heard the passenger door open and hands pull her out of the car. She was dragged to the middle of the alley where she could see the van of revenants parked close by. Wynonna was thrown to the ground and surrounded by her exes, she noticed someone standing close by in a dark cloak with green glowing eyes. Perry stepped into her line of sight, a devilish grin spread across his face.

"I hate to do this Wynonna, but it's not us...it's you," Perry cocked a gun in his hand and pressed it to her forehead."

"NO!" Wynonna shot up from her bed, she was drenched in sweat as she felt around her body to feel for any injuries. She frantically searched for her phone to check the time: 3:03 a.m.

\-------

"Wynonna? W-what happened? Hold, on," Waverly rolled over and began to poke Alex's back. The detective stirred and turned over to give Waverly a kiss on the forehead in hopes that affection was all the brunette wanted.

"Babe, Wynonna had a bad dream..."

"That sucks."

"Alex," she laughed, "she's asking if she can come over."

"Like to sleep or to talk?"

"Probably both."

Alex groaned loudly, usually she would be inclined to say no but it just so happened to be early Friday morning. All she had for the day was to do some paperwork down at the station before date night with Waverly.

"Fine..." Alex plopped her head down on her pillow, she felt the brunette lean over her and kiss her cheek.

"We'll see you in a bit, drive safe," Waverly ended the call and headed down stairs to wait for her sister. Wynonna had rarely ever called Waverly in the dead of night, and she would have never called because of a bad dream. What could have been so bad about this dream that she didn't want to be left alone for the night? It had been a little less than two months since Wynonna took down Charles the revenant cult leader. She was able to quickly cope with that night's events over some assorted bottles of tequila and whiskey at Shorty's. It's been pretty quiet ever since, Alex and Waverly had kind of fallen into a routine and Wynonna was beginning to finally talk to Dolls as more than just friends. Doc was quite aloof in his doings, but he made sure to always take Jeremy shooting every other week to develop his newly acquired skill. 

Waverly heard Wynonna's car pull into the garage-as much as Alex valued her privacy, she gave everyone in the group a code and a key if they ever needed to take refuge in her home. Waverly was slightly disappointed to not be the only one with access to the detective's home-but given the special circumstances, she understood completely. The brunette sat at the breakfast bar as her sister lumbered into the house, her eyes droopy with dark circles surrounding them.

"Jesus Wynonna what the hell happened?" Waverly took her sister's bag and set it on the counter.

"I had a nightmare. Well, it didn't start out that way-you were there-Alex too-and Dolls and Doc...do you know if Alex can sing?"

Waverly laughed, "I love jamming out in the car with her, she's got a pretty good voice...how did you know?"

"It was a whole thing-anyway, my exes showed up-all of them...and they were revenants and there was a car chase and Dolls got sniped and I was about to get the shit stomped out of me and-"

"Wynonna relax, you need to sleep. Let's go upstairs." the younger Earp sister took the bag from the counter and led her sister up to the guest room adjacent from the master bedroom. 

"If you need anything, let us know-sleep well," Waverly closed the door behind Wynonna as she threw off her boots and flew onto the bed face first. She was so tired when she hit the pillow she immediately dozed off.

"Wynonna! HELP!" Waverly screamed. The heir's eyes shot open and she rolled out of bed. Wynonna reached for Peacemaker on the nightstand as she headed out of the room. The master bedroom door was open but no one was inside. 

"Wynonna!" Waverly screams were coming from the kitchen, the older Earp ran down the stairs and found her little sister slowly backing away from a werewolf Alex.

"What did I say Hale? Get away from my sister!" Wynonna aimed Peacemaker at the werewolf, she cocked it and gave Alex a chance to follow her directions but the detective ignored her.

"Hey asshole! Over here! Did you hear what I said?"

"Wake up Wynonna," Alex growled at her.

"What?"

"Wake up!" Alex began to move closer to Wynonna, her eyes were glowing green like the cloaked figure from first dream. Wynonna shut her eyes and opened them again to find herself pointing the large gun at Alex's face. They were in the kitchen, Waverly ran down the stairs and stopped herself from tackling Wynonna when she realized she was awake.

"Wynonna, give me Peacemaker-it's okay," Waverly carefully reached for the gun and set it on the counter next to her.

"I-you-you were trying to attack my sister..."

"I'm fine Wynonna, you were dreaming..."

"Fuck-Alex I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay Earp, really."

"Your eyes...they were green..."

"Weird, you do know they glow blue right?"

"Y-yeah, there was this thing in my first dream that had green eyes...it was someone wearing a dark robe."

"Green? I'll look into it tomorrow and see if I can find any revenants that have green eyes." Waverly rubbed her sister's back reassuringly, "do you want to go back to bed?"

"I'm too scared to sleep, I almost shot your girlfriend for chrissakes."

"What if she sleeps with us?" Waverly turned to Alex who was holding her head in her hands. The detective sighed loudly.

"Fine, but she's sleeping next to you." Alex trudged up the stairs with the Earp sisters following behind her. Luckily, the bed was large enough to fit about four of Alex on it-so adding another person wasn't a huge deal. Alex dropped on the bed and felt the other side dip slightly as Waverly and Wynonna climbed onto the bed. Alex could feel the brunette back into her body, she wrapped her arm around Waverly's torso and pulled her in. Alex was really tired, but she took a minute to mindlessly draw shapes along the brunette's abs before falling asleep. 

It was about 7:30 in the morning when Alex finally snoozed her alarm for the 4th time. Waverly's eye fluttered open and was relieved to find that Wynonna was still in bed, snoring inches from her face. The brunette rolled over, her hands searching for Alex and finally giving up when she realized that Alex was probably getting ready for work. 

The detective was already downstairs, showered and dressed in casual clothes. She tried to catch up on a little more sleep in lieu of getting her morning workout in. Dolls had texted her saying that he would be at her place by 7:45. Hale could see his car pull into the driveway as she locked the front door to her home. 

"Mind if we stop for coffee?"

"I would kill for some right now. I woke up a little late because of Wynonna."

Dolls arched his eyebrow, "because of...Wynonna?"

"She had a nightmare and ended up at my place...and then in my bed with Waverly and I."

"Haha she's working around the clock to cockblock you, Hale." Alex shot him a look before bursting out laughing.

"I hate you, so when are you gonna define the relationship with her?"

"When she's ready, we're still in the talking stage, you know? Not everyone gets to experience a whirlwind romance like you and Waverly."

"How long is the talking stage? One month is like 4 in lesbian time. Just move things along already so she can stop coming to my place so damn much."

"Haha, It's going good thanks for asking," Dolls replied sarcastically, "I'll tell you what, if I buy you a coffee will you stop giving me a hard time?"

"Deal."

"Perfect." Dolls pulled into the parking lot of the coffee shop and left Hale to catch a quick nap as he headed inside.

\------

Hale had made a huge dent in her paperwork by the time noon rolled around. She was running on less sleep than she wanted because of Wynonna's nightmare and it was affecting her a lot more than she expected. Alex was fighting off the urge to nap at her desk when dispatch called.

"Shots fired at Shorty's, two casualties confirmed at this time...suspect is still inside-he is armed and dangerous."

"Shit, they're not even open yet-Waverly!" Alex jumped up from her desk and ran to a patrol car outside. She sped off as she responded to dispatch, "this is detective Hale my eta is three minutes." Alex was driving dangerously fast with the sirens wailing. She swerved in front of Shorty's and threw the car in park. Alex wasted no time busting through the doors with her gun drawn.

"Purgatory PD hands where I can see them!" Alex shouted.

"Alex?" Waverly stood up from behind the bar, she looked at the detective and was shocked to see that she was holding her gun.

"Baby, put that down...it's just me..."

"Wha-there was a call about a shooting here? Where's Wynonna?"

"She's in the basement with Doc. Are you okay?"

"I don't understand, I dozed off at my desk and then dispatch came over the radio..."

"Shit, Lex were you dreaming?"

"No-how would I have gotten here? Unless-" Alex's phone rang, it was a call from Nedley.

"Hale, where did you go? I just got a call from Lonnie saying you were driving like a bat out of hell towards Shorty's."

"I did sir, it was a false alarm, I'm headed back now."

"Stop by my office as soon as you get back."

"Yes sir," she hung up the call and hung her head, "fuck me, I'm so sorry. I'll see you tonight?"

"Yes you will," Waverly put her hand on Alex's chest and leaned up for a kiss, "but we're gong to bed at a decent time tonight, okay?"

"We'll see about that," Alex winked before heading out the double doors.

\--------

"Yes sir?" Alex poked her head inside the Sheriff's office.

"Come in, have a seat," Nedley motioned to the chair in front of his desk.

"How have you been since...you know?" Nedley asked.

"Good, Waverly has been a godsend and Wynonna is pretty sharp. It's hard trying to figure out what I need to tell my therapist without mentioning anything referring to the supernatural though..."

"I'm glad you're still going to therapy."

"I am too...I guess."

"Any other supernatural happenings since?"

"Maybe, sir...it just happened last night so I'll keep you posted if it is an issue."

"Great, if you're not feeling well Hale, you're more than welcome to head home."

"I'm okay sir, I just have paperwork to finish up and I'll be out in a few hours."

"All the more reason to head home. We'll see you Monday if everything runs smoothly over the weekend."

"Sir, I'm fine really."

"Hale, go home-that's an order."

"Yes sir," Alex stood up from her chair and began to walk to the door."

"Alex."

"Yes sir?"

"Before I forget, I wanted to give you this," Nedley holds out a key, "us Nedleys were supposed to head up to the cabin this weekend, but Chrissy has to go out of town for something and the Misses has a cold. Take Waverly up there for me will ya? She loved going to the cabin when she was little-don't feel obligated to ask Wynonna..."

"I'd love to take the both of them, sir," Alex smiled as Nedley handed her the keys.

"Alright, I'll see you Monday Hale."

"See you Monday, sir." Alex walked over to Dolls' desk.

"Hey, mind giving me a lift home? I don't have any business driving today."

"Sure thing, let's get you home."

\-----------

The first thing Alex noticed was Wynonna's truck still in the driveway, she walked through the front door with ease because it was unlocked.

"Christ, Earp," Alex muttered. She walked into the living room and found the older Earp laying across her couch, flipping though channels on the TV.

"Oh, hey beefcake."

"Aren't you supposed to be at Shorty's?"

"Yeah about that, I kept dozing off at the bar and some bozos used it as a perfect opportunity to take some free booze. Waverly and Doc put me in an Uber and sent me here."

"Why here?"

"Didn't Waverly tell you? I'm spending the night again."

Alex groaned and flopped down on the chaise lounger next to Wynonna's head. It was slowly setting in that maybe their date night plans were about to fall through because of Wynonna's problem.

"Did Waverly tell you I busted into Shorty's like something out of Mission Impossible?"

"More like Paul Blart-I heard it actually, I thought y'all were doing some nasty role playing until you started talking about getting an actual call about a shooting at Shorty's."

"Yeah, it seemed so real. It's not like I stayed up the whole night, I still got like 5 hours of sleep!"

"It's that thing, the revenant with green eyes."

"I didn't see him at all...we might just be sleep walking, Wynonna."

"I never sleepwalk."

"I used to, first year I was here was when the night terrors were happening. I would sometimes catch myself standing at the edge of the pool or getting into my car with the key in the ignition."

"Shit man."

"Yeah, if it wasn't for my therapist I think I would have died from the shit I was doing to myself. Maybe you should talk to someone?"

"I don't do shrinks, I do shots."

"I know, but you have other options...options that won't do a number on your liver any given night."

"It's part of my healing process."

"Fine, I'll drop it," Hale laid her head back and tried to relax. Both the heir and the detective found themselves drifting off to sleep.

\--------

It was about 6:30 pm when the front door opened, Waverly stepped into the living room and smiled at the sight of her sister and Alex sleeping on the couch. She walked over to the pair and leaned down to give Alex a kiss on the forehead. The detective didn't even stir. 

"Guys, I brought food." Waverly crooned to the pair. Wynonna was the first to wake, she looked up at Alex who was lightly snoring next to her.

"Nap time's over, muscles," she gave the detective a friendly smack on the leg. Alex jolted awake, looking around frantically before she remembered she was at home. 

"How long have we been napping for?" Alex asked.

"Four hours," Waverly said.

"Nice! And I didn't have a nightmare! Wait...why are you here?"

"I came to check on you, the new girl Rosita and Doc are handling the bar."

"Rosita?"

"Yeah, Doc's friend, she's pretty nice!"

"How come I never got to interview her?"

"Wynonna, you have never interviewed anybody. You hate people...and most people in this town hate you too."

"True that," Wynonna trotted over to the bag of food and helped herself.

"So, is it date night plus Wynonna or?" Alex stretched out on the couch.

"We can do a rain-check and just have a night in," Waverly ran her hand through jet black hair and sat down next to the detective.

"So, Nedley sent me home early," Alex said, looking down at her hands.

"Did you get in trouble?"

"No, not after I told him it might be something revenant related."

"Well that's good right?"

"Right...he also uh-gave me the key to his cabin. He told me to take you and Wynonna up there...for old times sake."

"oh my god, I haven't been there in ages." Waverly smiled.

"He told me. So, how about a weekend getaway?"

"That sounds...amazing. But what about this whole mess with the nightmares going on?"

"We don't even know for sure what's happening. Maybe Wynonna is just dealing with some deep shit and maybe I need to lay off the copious amounts of caffeine I consume before bed."

"How about this, the cabin trip will be contingent on whether or not we have to kick revenant ass," Waverly playfully tapped the detective's nose and gave her a peck on the lips. Alex hoped that in a few hours her and the Earp sisters would be en route to Nedley's cabin instead of dealing with whatever is going on. But if she's learned anything from her time in Purgatory, it's that there are no days off when you're dealing with the supernatural.

"I say we have a scary movie night! How about Cabin in The Woods?" Wynonna exclaimed as she excitedly hopped onto the couch next to Waverly.

Alex and Waverly gave Wynonna a look for the poorly timed suggestion. Alex looked over at Waverly and sighed before handing the older Earp the remote.

"Cabin in The Woods is less like a scary movie and more like a tribute to scary movies."

"Says you," Wynonna huffed as she browsed the screen to find the film.

"Duh," Alex leaned back into the couch and threw her arm over Waverly, pulling her in close as the movie began.

\------------

Waverly woke up from the booming thunder. She looked at both women who were fast asleep on the couch. The movie was still playing on the screen in front of them.

"Alex," Waverly gently shook the detective but she didn't wake. The brunette decided to try and wake up her sister instead but to no avail. 

"Waverly..." a woman's voice beckoned.

"M-momma?" Waverly stood up from the couch, she could see a shadow looming behind the glass door to the backyard. It was the silhouette of a woman, "Waverly," the voice called.

"Momma, what are you doing here?" Waverly slowly approached the sliding door, the shadow backed away slowly.

"I came back for you," the woman replied.

"Why all of a sudden?"

"You're in danger, Waverly," the woman's silhouette was now standing on the other side of the pool, with her back to the woods.

"Do you trust me?" She asked the brunette.

"Of course I do, Momma," Waverly stepped closer to the pool.

"Come, Waverly. You'll be safe with me," for a split second Waverly questioned her mother's statement but she couldn't fight her legs that were already inching her closer and closer to the pool.

"Momma wait-what about Alex and Wynonna?"

"They'll be okay-come with me."

"That doesn't make sense, momma-" Waverly was in the pool at this point with the water up to her chest. Her legs were on autopilot as they moved her farther into the deep end. The water moved up to her neck and then her ears. In just seconds Waverly was completely underwater, she felt hand push down on her head. She struggled against the force but more hands began to grab her, this time from below the surface. Her lungs burned and were slowly filling with water as she felt herself getting pulled down into a deep hole at the bottom of the pool. Waverly's eyes began to shut as a dark figure dove into the pool above her. She barely felt the strong arms that pulled her up to the surface as she began to lose consciousness. 

"Waverly-stay with me," Alex hoisted herself and the brunette out of the water. The detective began CPR on Waverly as Wynonna ran out in a panic to see what happened to her sister. She looked on as Hale kept pumping the brunette's chest. Only a minute had passed but it seemed like an hour before Waverly finally began to cough. Alex turned her on her side to help the brunette cough up any water that was still in her lungs.

"Wynonna, I need you to grab some blankets," Wynonna nodded and ran inside, she returned shortly with a pile of blankets and helped Hale wrap them around Waverly.

"What happened?" Waverly was still dazed from nearly drowning just moments ago.

"I don't know, I just woke up and saw you sinking to the bottom of the pool."

"I-I saw momma..."

"Did she have green eyes?" Wynonna asked

"No, it was just her shadow-she told me I was in danger and told me to go with her. I didn't have much of a say because next thing I know I was walking into the pool. The last thing I remember was being pulled down by a bunch of hands."

"Shit Waverly," Alex was holding the brunette tightly-something was definitely going on...but what?

"Should we just call it a night?" Wynonna asked.

"I'm not sure if sleeping is the best idea right now," the detective looked around the backyard, trying to find any evidence to show that someone else was there with them.

"You might be right, all-nighter then?"

"I'll start a pot of coffee," Waverly strained as she tried to sit up.

"No, you're staying on the couch," Alex stood up and bent down to scoop Waverly in her arms. She walked over to the couch and gently laid the brunette down, taking a moment to appreciate the fact that Waverly was still there, still breathing. 

"Okay so maybe we shouldn't watch Nightmare on Elm St.-on second thought, maybe we should scrap the scary movie night altogether."

"I suggested 'Bridesmaids' halfway through 'Friday the 13th' but I'm pretty sure you didn't hear me over your screaming," Alex laughed.

"I'm not saying I'm scared! Waverly obviously had a bad reaction to the movie so I'm just taking precautions!"

"Uh-huh, how does sleeping in shifts sound?" Alex began to pour herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen.

"I can do that."

"Great, I can probably stay awake the longest so you two can get some sleep."

"You don't have to," Waverly rasped.

"Let your broody werewolf girlfriend take care of you, Waves," Wynonna tucked a strand of her sister's hair behind her ear.

"Wynonna has a point."

"You'll wake one of us when you get tired, okay?" Waverly insisted to the detective.

"That's the plan, it's 11 right now so I'll aim to stay awake until 2 am-I'm setting an alarm just in case."

"On that note, I'm going upstairs-sleeping on a couch is reserved for binging shows and rock bottom..." Wynonna started for the stairs. 

"We should probably sleep in the master. That way Alex can keep an eye on both of us."

"Good idea, sis."

The three women climbed the stairs to the master bedroom. Wynonna sprawled out on the bed while Alex took a seat at her desk. Waverly stood next to the detective, still wrapped in a bundle of blankets.

"Thank you for...well....everything today."

"You don't have to thank me, I know you would have done the same for me."

"You right, there's a lot of things I would do to you," Waverly winked

"For-for me?"

"Nope," Waverly teased in the detective's ear. Hale felt goosebumps form all over her body. Dating Waverly for the past few months has been nothing but pure bliss. Alex still got butterflies whenever she would happen to see Waverly during her patrols. She could only say hello when they were in public, no kissing, no touching, nothing that would let the town know they were together, especially when Alex was in uniform. She loved when they would steal moments for themselves in Nedley's office or in Alex's car. Every kiss felt like the first, and every touch was electric. Waverly was Alex's safe place, her anchor.

Waverly laid with her back to Wynonna, watching Alex browse the computer as she let herself doze off for the time being. Alex grabbed her phone and sent a message to Dolls.

_Alex: Hey, sorry your girlfriend is spending another night at my place._

_Dolls: lol if you weren't so enamored with Waverly, I would definitely be worried about Wynonna hanging out with you in the wee hours of the night(;_

_Alex: If it's any consolation, I didn't get to have date night with Waverly bc of Wynonna :(_

_Dolls: I wish I could have seen your face!_

_Alex: STOP!! Are you on duty this weekend?_

_Doll: Yes, why-did you want to take my place?_

_Alex: Hell no. Just-let me know if you need anything, I'll hit you up tomorrow._

_Dolls: Will do, night._

Alex sat back into her chair, but quickly stood up when she felt herself grow slightly woozy. She paced for a bit around the room to keep herself awake.

\------

About an hour had passed since Alex took first watch. She opted to get in a quick workout so she could feel more energetic going into the second half of her "shift". Hero was waiting for her at the door when she walked out to the backyard.

"I have a motion sensor set up in case either of them sleepwalk, keep any eye on the bedroom window for me, yeah?" Hero bowed his head and turned so he was facing the window. Alex finished stretching and jumped for the pull up bar on the rig. Time flew by and Alex was about done with her midnight workout session when Hero began to growl at the bedroom window. She looked up and could see the motion sensor light flickering like crazy.

"Crap," she jumped down from the rig and ran into the house and up the stairs to find Wynonna struggling to breathe. Her eyes were wide open but her body was rigid, Alex ran to the older Earp.

"Close your eyes, Wynonna-keep them closed,"Alex crouched down next to Wynonna so she could whisper instructions to the older Earp.

"Focus on your breath, you can breathe. Do it slowly, okay? Just breathe." Wynonna was able to catch her breath and sit upright shortly after listening to Hale's advice.

"What the hell was that?"

"Sleep paralysis."

"Is seeing demons fly around the room apart of it?"

"It can be, what did you see?"

"That thing with the green eyes and the dracula cape-it was standing in the doorway. I tried to scream for help but I realized I couldn't talk, I couldn't even move a muscle."

"Yeah, that's pretty standard."

"What the actual fuck."

"I know, do you think you can sleep?"

"Not after that I'm not. I'll take the next watch. Thanks for saving me from...me." Wynonna winced as she got out of the bed and sat by the fireplace, scrolling through her phone to keep her awake. Alex took a quick shower before finally laying down next to Waverly, being careful not to wake her. Hale focused on the brunette's soft, peaceful snoring and closed her eyes, easing into her slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole part is going to be a blast to write! I've been sitting on this concept for a hot minute. Alex and Waverly should just up and leave Purgatory and go on tour-don't you think? Sit tight while I finish the next chapter of this thing-it's gonna get wild! Thanks for reading as always!!
> 
> Side Note: sleep paralysis is the W O R S T  
> UPDATE: I saw Katy M. O'Brian and I'm like dead set on her being the celebrity I had in mind for Alex, she's perfect!


	7. He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (not so) sweet dreams are made of this...

"This was not what I meant by a weekend getaway," Alex pulled into the driveway and turned the car off, folding her arms in protest.

"Oh, come on-it is Chrissy's cabin technically. A party is a nice change of pace for us!"

"Nice change of pace to YOU," Alex pouted, "huge house parties are not my thing."

"It's gonna have to be! It's just one weekend Lex, I'm really excited to be here with you. I'll give you a tour of the place tomorrow when everyone is gone...the bedrooms are pretty swanky," Waverly teased. 

"You're ridiculous, just keep the booze coming and I'll do whatever you want me to do-" Alex pulled Waverly in for a heavy kiss before getting out of the driver's side and opening Waverly's car door for her. The brunette stood up and took Hale's arm as the two walked up the front steps, the music was thumping loudly from inside. Waverly reached for the door knob and lead the two inside, taking in the scene before them. There was a lot of people, multi-colored lights flashed throughout the house, sweaty bodies dancing around as clumsy hands groped one another on the stairs and against the walls of the cabin. Alex was calculating how many ciders she had to shotgun in order to tolerate the current state of the party when Chrissy came to greet them.

"You guys made it!" She gave a tight hug to Waverly and reached out a hand for Hale to shake, "Alex, always a pleasure to see you-especially because you're not Champ."

"Chrissy, good to see you. Glad to hear that's my most likable quality," Waverly laughed and wrapped her arm around the detective's waist.

"Just don't be a snitch tonight, okay? I got the party under control, if I need backup you'll be the first one I'll call," Chrissy handed Alex her first cider for the night. "Oh, I forgot to mention, Dolls is here! He's waiting for you at the beer pong table."

"Oh it's on! Feel free to wander around if you don't want to watch me get sloshed, Waves. I'll make sure I'm still coordinated enough to dance with you," Alex kissed the brunette's cheek before making her way to the first living area where Dolls was waiting. 

"She's funny when she's not being a hardcore cop, Waves."

"Yeah, she's my best baby! I'll make sure she behaves tonight."

"I trust the both of you, it's all good. Just bring her around when she's drunk off her ass so I can have a laugh okay?" Waverly burst out laughing and followed Chrissy to the kitchen. Alex and Dolls were already winning their first beer pong game by the skin of their teeth. Hale had begun to feel buzzed from the couple beers she had to chug. She loved but hated the fact that she was such a lightweight drinker. 

Waverly was talking to a couple friends in the kitchen when a man approached her.

"Hey beautiful, you here alone?"

"No, I came here with my girlfriend," she pointed to Alex in the adjacent room and smirked as the man's jaw dropped. His turned back to the brunette, still smiling, "how would you feel about a threesome? Not with her though, I don't do butches."

"I'm not the slightest bit interested-get the fuck away from me." Waverly swatted away the man's hand as he attempted to reach for her waist.

"Bitch," the man threw his hands up and walked away in a huff.

"Angry Waves is my favorite Waves," Chrissy gave the brunette a friendly nudge with her elbow. Earth, Wind, and Fire's "Let's Groove" began to blare throughout the house. Waverly could hear Alex drunkenly scream, "that's my song!" and reveled in the sight of her drunk girlfriend dragging Dolls in the middle of the room to dance among the crowd. 

"I'm going to get my dance in now before she blacks out, watch my drink," Waverly set her cup on the counter and made her way over to Hale, who was moving like she's never seen her do before.

"About that dance you owe me?"

"How could I forget," Alex's grabbed Waverly's waist and pulled her in close. Their bodies swaying together to music. The classic song was short lived as the DJ mixed in a more modern, trashy song to keep the crowd going. Alex turned the brunette so she her back was to Hale, their bodies were grinding against one another as they let themselves get lost in the music. Alex looked up and met eyes with another woman who was watching her every move. The woman gave Hale a wink as she walked over to the stairs, the detective couldn't take her eyes off of her as she sauntered up the stairs and looked back to make sure Alex was still watching. Hale swallowed hard and let go of Waverly, "do you want to go upstairs?" Alex whispered into the brunette's ear and it wasn't long before they were cutting through the crowd and up the stairs to their bedroom for that weekend. The door had barely closed when things began to get hot and heavy for the couple. Alex ripped open Waverly's shirt and pushed the brunette onto the bed, kissing up her abs and stopping to nibble on her girlfriend's neck. Waverly let out a small moan in between panting from the heat of the moment. She began to grind her body against the detective's until they caught a rhythm. Alex stopped abruptly, "I hate to do this, I really gotta use the bathroom-I'll be back, okay?"

"Hurry back," Waverly breathed into Hale's ear before falling back down onto the bed. She heard the door close and she laid in the dim light for a few minutes until the door opened once more. 

"Where were we?" Waverly said as she sat up in the bed, she was surprised to find Champ standing at the foot of the bed.

"Well for starters, you yelled at me for having sex with Megan-and then left me for some butch lesbian to make me jealous."

"What? Champ we talked about this, we're done."

"That's not what Alex said. She said you were using her to put on a big show for me and that you were waiting in here for me."

"She didn't say that."

"Yeah she did! She told me on her way to the bathroom."

Waverly was dumbfounded by what Champ was telling her, she clenched her jaw and hopped out of bed, grabbing a t-shirt on her way out.

"Show me where she went, now." Champ obliged and led her to the bathroom that was closest to Chrissy's room. The party host happened to emerge from her bedroom while the man behind her quickly zipped his pants and headed back downstairs to the party.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you, take your drink back."

"Not now Chrissy," Waverly downed the rest of her drink and threw the cup on the floor, "I'll get that tomorrow I promise."

"Oh angry Waverly is back! Who's the unlucky bitch?"

"Alex," Waverly began to bang on the bathroom door but no one answered. She turned the knob and screamed at what was happening before her. Alex was hooking up with Megan Halshford against the bathroom counter. Waverly felt sick to her stomach but couldn't look away as both Megan and Alex turned to her, their eyes were glowing green. The brunette's vision went blurry and everything was fading in and out of darkness. She felt her knees weaken and her body sink onto the floor as green eyes watched her drop. Waverly couldn't scream, she couldn't move a muscle, she closed her eyes as dark figures began to loom over her. She heard the faint voice of her sister screaming her name.

"Waverly! Snap out of it! Waverly!" She opened her eyes and found herself standing in the master bathroom in Alex's home. Wynonna was shaking her awake, still screaming her name. 

"Waverly I can't wake Alex up, I dozed off for like a second and this shit happens!"

The brunette turned to the bed and could see Alex's chest move rapidly from breathing fast and hard. She ran over to the detective, her body was rigid but contorted in a way where it looked like she was tied up.

"Alex wake up...baby wake up please," the brunette tried shaking Hale awake but watched in horror as Alex's body tensed like as if she was being electrocuted. Waverly and Wynonna kept trying to wake the detective but to no avail.

\-------

"Don't move, motherfucker," a man tasered Alex and she fell to the ground. She felt two gruff hands pick her up and drag her into a room with a wall to wall mirror. Hale was thrown into the chair that was in the middle of them room and strapped in by the two men. 

"I can't wait to watch this bitch get gutted," the two men walked away through the automatic door. Alex struggled against the restraints but couldn't break free. She tried to turn but the restraints were too powerful and she was too weak from the beating she had taken prior. Only a few minutes passed when a man in a suit and a mask entered the room.

"It's been a while, Alex." The detective immediately recognized the voice belonging to the man that got her into this mess.

"Cam? You're still alive?"

"Unfortunately, you're a better enforcer than a hit man, Hale."

"What do you mean?"

"When you left me for dead, one of my guys showed up. I was being treated around the clock by the best doctors money can buy and they still had no idea what happened to me. When I got well, I decided to see if you left any of the marks that I gave you in bad of shape as I was. I lucked out and found a handful of people that you tried to kill. Let's just say I went into a different kind of business after that. Revenge is sweet and it also makes bank, who would've known?"

"Still doesn't explain why I'm here, Cam."

"I'm getting to that part. Do you know where you are right now?"

"Where?"

"Atlantic City, where the dirtiest of gamblers come when even Sin City doesn't want anything to do with them."

"Fascinating"

"It really is! As it turns out, people will throw their money down on anything if it means a big payday for them. I figured, why not gamble with people's lives? The public was skeptical at first, but I found a niche audience that constantly pays out the nose just to watch someone else suffer."

"You couldn't just become a hit man yourself?"

"This is a lot more entertaining. People bet on different facets of the kill and reap the benefits!"

"Like what?"

"Like how many times I can shock you before putting you into cardiac arrest," Cam raised a stun wand and shoved it into Alex's side. She couldn't scream as the current ripped through her body, tensing every muscle beyond belief.

"Anyway, those bozos you didn't kill are paying big bucks to watch you die through this two way mirror. The best part? They're paying extra to pick what I get to do to you."

"This isn't real, none of this is real."

"Oh but it is," Cam looked up at the reflective mirror where a picture of a whip appeared.

"Oh my god I don't know what you did to these people but they want you to die a slow death," Cam walked over to a wall and pressed a switch to reveal the other side that was covered with weapons. He reached for the bull whip that was hung on the wall.

"Now they're gonna bet on how many licks with this until you start crying like a little bitch," Cam wound up the whip and two men entered the room. They tasered Alex and bent her over a beam, locking her feet into the floor and her hands to the beam.

"Don't worry, this will only hurt a lot,"

"This isn't happening, this isn't-" Alex screamed in agony as Cam brought the whip down on her. 

"I'm putting my money on four licks for you," Cam whipped Alex again, and again. Her ears were ringing, she yelped in pain as Cam whipped her again-she could at least revel for a second that Cam wasn't getting any money from betting on her weakness, not now...not ever.

\-------

"Shit shit shit Waverly she's bleeding," Wynonna turned the detective over slightly and could see the blood soaking through her shirt. 

"Alex Hale, you buff son of a bitch-wake up!" The wounds in Alex's back began to heal as soon as they formed.

\-------

"You heal fast too? I'm going to make so much money off of your sorry ass tonight."

"And then I'm going to wake up and you're still going to be six feet under without a damn dime."

"I'm taking you down with me shithead," Cam looked up at the mirror again to find a picture of throwing knives.

"Is it my birthday?"

"Birthdays are for celebrating life, dumbass," Alex was doing everything she could to grasp reality. She knew it was a dream, and she was going to keep telling herself that in hopes that something about the situation could change. Alex had been taken down from the beam and was now pinned to the wall for the next weapon.

"Maybe if you shut your mouth for like five minutes I might show you some mercy," Cam threw a knife that barely grazed Hale's ear. 

"Regardless, I'm gonna keep you alive for a long as I want to," Cam threw another knife and it pierced Alex in the right side of her chest.

"This is just a dream, none of this is real," she whispered to herself.

"Speak up! There's people betting on your every move!" 

"Why would I do that when none of this is actually happening."

"Oh, it's happening alright." Cam threw two knives with one hand, one went through Alex's arm and the other in her thigh.

"And there's nothing you can do to stop it," Cam approached Alex and took off his mask, revealing a mutilated face and glowing green eyes looking dead on at the detective.

\------

"Wynonna grab some gauze and help me!" Waverly was pressing on Alex's right side when she saw the other wounds begin to form on the detective's arm and thigh. 

"Jesus fuck what kind of 'Nightmare On Elm St.' bullshit is this?" Wynonna held the gauze to Alex's thigh, "talk to her Waverly."

"Baby? Baby it's me, Waverly. Wake up Alex, please. You're dreaming, just wake up okay? Wake up," Waverly whispered into Hale's ear.

\-----

_"Wake up Alex, please...Wake up..."_

Hale opened her eyes to find herself still in the room with Cam. She looked around trying to find where the voice was coming from.

"Intermission, I have a concessions stand right outside-can you believe people actually want to eat while watching a person get tortured to death? Capitalism really is a disease."

"Stop fucking with me I know this is just a dream. Look, what I did to you was wrong and I should have let you get yours, but you were making me do some fucked up shit."

"Shut up," Cam punched Alex in the face, the detective let her bloodied nose leak on the floor of the room.

"We're taking bets on what the big finale is going to be, I'm thinking a chainsaw-but who knows? Maybe some of these freaks have an affliction to a medieval style execution..."

This isn't real, I'm going to wake up any second now. This is my dream, I should be able to do whatever I want. This is my dream...this is my-

"Are you serious? No, no no no no BET AGAIN! BET AGAIN!" Cam and Alex looked up to find a picture of two pairs of boxing gloves on the mirror. Alex was released from the restraints, she fell to the floor and she ached all over from the injuries she sustained. 

This is it, I'm in control now.

Alex focused on her reality and she felt herself finally begin to turn. 

"Alex...wait, let's work something out yeah? I'll give you have the cut if you just make it LOOK like I killed you okay?" Cam backed away from the werewolf, stumbling over himself as he didn't dare take his eyes off the angry creature before him. Alex lunged at Cam and threw him against the wall. The man felt the wind leave his body and he gasped for air, he felt claws wrap around his neck and lift him high off the ground. 

"I'm going to enjoy doing this again," Alex snarled. 

\--------

Alex's eyes opened, both Earp sisters were standing over her, frantically trying to get her to wake up while trying to make sure she didn't bleed out. 

"Alex! Thank fuck-hey hey focus on your breath like you showed me. Nice and slow beefcake, just breathe."

Alex clung to Wynonna's words and started to gain feeling in her extremities once her breathing slowed. She turned her head and spit out blood onto the floor. Alex wanted to tell them she was going to be okay but she could only gurgle through the blood in her mouth.

"Hey, you're awake now, we got you...just relax," Waverly gently stroked the detective's cheek and checked the wounds she had dressed in gauze.

"You're already starting to scab."

Alex spit out more blood onto the floor and attempted to speak again.

"I feel...like shit..."

"I know baby, can you stand?," Waverly and her sister helped sit Alex up in the bed and held onto her as she stood. 

"I think I'm...gonna shower..."

"I'll bring you some clothes, here let me help," Waverly escorted Hale to the bathroom and turned on the shower. She helped the detective undress, the wounds were scarring and the welts on Hale's back had shrunk considerably. 

"Thank you, for everything," Alex kissed the top of the brunette's head and stepped into the shower. Waverly walked over to the dresser and grabbed a clean shirt and boxer briefs for the detective to wear. 

"We need to figure out what the fuck is going on. I felt everything in my dream from last night, too. Luckily nobody was trying to slice me ten different ways but holy shit Alex got wrecked in her dream, huh?"

"I think we should all just try to stay awake, there's no telling what will happen if any of us falls asleep," Waverly walked back into the bathroom and helped the detective get dressed.

"I mean it's not like we have a choice now do we?" Wynonna turned to look at the blood soaked bed as Alex emerged from the bathroom.

"I'm gonna call Jeremy and see if he can babysit...and maybe clean the sheets if he's willing..."

"Right now?"

"I'm not chancing it if one of us falls asleep again," Alex pulled out her phone and called Jeremy. The three women made their way down to the living room and waited for Jeremy to arrive.

"So, what were you dreaming about?" Wynonna looked at the detective.

"People were paying to torture me..."

"Do you know who?"

"The people I killed, the contractor did all the dirty work...he had the green eyes. What about you?"

"I don't remember, I don't think I was dreaming to be honest. I just remember waking up and seeing green eyes too and feeling like something was crushing my chest."

"What about you, Waves?" Alex looked over at the brunette.

"Nothing."

"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it-I'm glad you didn't get hurt."

"You can't laugh,"

"I won't," said Alex.

"I might," Wynonna snarked.

"I had a dream we were at Nedley's cabin for a house party and Alex hooked up with Megan Halshford in the bathroom."

Wynonna snickered, Alex frowned-even though it was a dream, she could see the hurt in Waverly's eyes.

"I would never do that."

"I know...it just...it felt so real," Alex's first instinct was to wrap her arms around her girlfriend and pull her close, but she recognized that maybe it's not the best thing to do right now.

"Did you see the green eyes?"

"Yeah, and a lot more of Megan than I needed to see," Waverly threw her head back on the couch and sighed. 

"Lex, how did you know I was awake?" Wynonna changed the subject to alleviate the lingering tension.

"I had a motion sensor on, it was flickering like crazy when you woke up...Come to think of it, you weren't moving so I have no idea what triggered it."

"Oh great, the revenant is actually Freddy fucking Krueger," Wynonna groaned. There was a knock on the front door, Hale walked over to the door and invited Jeremy in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean to give myself a chance to pay homage to some of my favorite horror movies (excluding Cabin In the Woods), Sorry this took a bit-it's not much and to be honest there's a half of this chapter missing but I'll probably add to it this weekend. I took this concept and ran with it...into a wall. 
> 
> But hey if you made it this far, thanks so much for being the real MVPs! I'll be back...and hopefully better!
> 
> ALSO: I will be making revisions this weekend to earlier chapters! Not anything huge but I feel like somethings just need a tweak.

**Author's Note:**

> I am so glad I was able to get the other part of this chapter up lol. I really do love a good PSL(: Thanks for reading! This was a blast (attempting) to write, really. Stay tuned for the next part!!


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